A Public Little War
by OneHorseShay
Summary: When Captain Kirk leaves one of his missions unresolved to stop the Klingons from interfering with a primitive planet, it's up to the crew of the USS Tori and particularly their newest crewmember to save the day. Follow up to the TOS episode, 'A Private Little War'.
1. Chapter 1

Hello dear readers, I have another (hopefully) exciting story with his fusion series of the iCarly/Victorious universe with Star Trek. I'd like to thank those once again that read the other piece.

* * *

A Public Little War  
By OneHorseShay

Disclaimer: Don't Own, Don't Sue. For God sakes, don't sue. Star Trek, iCarly and Victorious are all ultimately owned by the same people: Viacom/CBS/Paramount, etc.  
Rating: T Sci-Fi Violence and potential Language

Summary: When Captain Kirk leaves one of his missions unresolved to stop the Klingons from interfering with a primitive planet, it's up to the crew of the USS Tori and particularly their newest crewmember to save the day. Follow up to the TOS episode, 'A Private Little War'.

* * *

Captain's Log, Stardate Four Two Nine Seven point Three: _"We're on our fifth day of our last minute 'survey mission' along the Federation/Klingon border before we head back towards the core and the rest of the Second Fleet after the arrival of the relief ships to 'Grey Station'. We're still combing through the records we recovered from the station to determine all that happened to the chagrin of Star Fleet Intelligence and the border has been quiet so far with the Klingons staying on their side of the Neutral Zone. We have a few more days of our surveying until we reach Deep Space Station K-Seven where I hope we can get a little shore leave._

* * *

The Mark-XIA Heavy Cruiser majestically moved through the sea of stars, bending space in front of it then stretching space behind it to cover distances faster than several thousand times the speed of light. Inside one of the queens of the fleet, the crew went about their daily duties of ship maintenance and quickly 'surveying' systems as they passed. They knew they weren't really surveying the border; it was just a euphemism for patrol duty along the border while they were in the area.

On the bridge, Captain Benson was sitting in his command seat reading over the latest report compiled from the records of the survey team on 'Grey Station'. So far, Robbie and his team had determined during getting the computer system up and running, the station's A.I. system was inadvertently activated and set in motion the events that cost the lives of the survey team save but one. There was no indication so far that Lieutenant Commander Vega had purposely activated it as a way of eliminating the others and allowing the Klingons to sweep in and claim the station. He was personally relieved that wasn't the case not just for security reasons, but personal ones as most of his senior staff were friends with the young Star Fleet officer when they were teenagers.

His reading was interrupted when Cat turned in her seat and called out to Freddie, "Sir, I have a communiqué from Third Fleet Headquarters for you, Rear Admiral… Shay."

Lieutenant Valentine and Lieutenant Commander Harris recognized the name of Jade's stepfather, but dutifully kept their attention on their stations.

Freddie took a deep breath, lowering the PADD on his lap. He glanced over his right shoulder and answered, "Thank you Lieutenant. I'll take it in my quarters." He stood up from his seat and added as he made his way to the turbolift doors, "Commander Harris, you have the conn."

"Aye, aye," the chief navigator answered as he stood up and took the center seat.

Captain's Quarters  
USS Tori  
Constitution-class Heavy Cruiser

The doors parted and the lights turned on for Freddie as he entered and walked to his desk. He took a seat behind it and in front of the computer monitor. He saw the blinking light under the monitor, signaling the waiting message. He pressed the button and the next moment the image of Rear Admiral Shay appeared on the screen sitting behind his desk and wearing a command gold uniform shirt instead of the white and grey of flag officers.

Admiral Shay greeted the young captain with a warm smile, _"Hello Captain."_

Freddie struggled with a smile, still years later unsure how to present himself to his former father-in-law. He casually answered, "Hello Admiral. I hope everything is going well. Mrs. Shay? Michael?"

"It is and they're doing fine. It's not Earth, but it's a nice planet we're stationed on and they're enjoying it. The Klingons are quiet for the moment, so nothing to complain about here. Have the last few days since we spoke been good for you and your crew?"

"Nothing to report of significance astronomically or militarily. Ship and crew functioning fine and fully operational… Jade's fully recovered and running her sickbay."

Shay cracked a grin then continued, _"I'm glad to hear. I hate to interrupt the easy cruise towards shore leave, but we have a situation on Neural, a planet in the Zeta Bootis system and you're the closest ship with command experience… "_

Freddie relaxed in his seat and asked, "So you're borrowing us from Second Fleet for a little longer?"

" _Yes. Captain Kirk's report of the situation on Neural has filtered up to the Council and they want the situation rectified. You just happen to draw the short straw."_

Freddie suppressed a sigh at hearing the starship captain that was becoming a living legend into his fourth year of his five year mission, knowing that the man seemed to get into the wildest and most bizarre situations. However, there were a number of starship captains that privately questioned the veracity of some of the stories even going so far as saying he was falsifying his logs. He respectfully questioned, "I have?"

The Rear Admiral grudgingly admitted, _"We could get another ship out there, but time is of the essence and as I've said, you're the closest and your experience and judgment is trusted to handle this."_

Freddie wasn't sure if he was just laying it on thick or perhaps there was genuine profession and personal pride he had in him. "I understand sir. What is the situation?"

Shay let a faint smile cross his features in professional pride then answered, _"Neural's a planet within our treaty zone with a native humanoid population somewhere between the primitive and bronze age depending on the location, but the Klingons decided to clandestinely arm one group with flintlock rifles for the purposes of having them seize power and control the planet though them. It looks like they took that approach to make it look like they were developed naturally by the natives and make it hard to prove they were behind anything."_

Freddie sighed, rubbing under his chin, then asked, "But if you know it's them, why hasn't the Council gone to the Organians to lodge a protest?"

" _We have no proof except Captain Kirk's testimony and the Enterprise's sensor logs of the Klingon vessel in orbit, but they could just say we faked them."_

"Wouldn't they believe him though? They've dealt with him in the first place that got this whole treaty started in the first place."

" _The Council isn't confident that will be enough. We have to handle this on our own. The President doesn't want us to go crying to the Organians every time something comes up. She doesn't want us to look weak in front of the Klingons."_

"So what do you want me to do about it?"

" _Clean up the contamination as best as possible, preferably getting the weapons out of villagers' hands and cool down tensions between the two sides before it starts spreading through the rest of the population. We're hoping in doing so that it'll send a message to the Klingons that they can't have the planet and their tricks aren't going to work."_

"How do I do that without violating the Prime Directive?"

" _You're actually following it by attempting to remove the contamination. The leaders of both sides already know about other worlds, so you don't have to worry about that and besides, the Unionist might be stricter in how they view the Prime Directive, but even they realize that we can't let them use it as a noose around our necks and just let the Klingons co-op it."_

"Those orders are really open to interpretation… open enough for me to believe I'm following orders, but still facing a court-martial if some bureaucrat thinks I crossed the line."

" _Yes you could, but I won't let that happen. You're not going to be left out to dry trying to do the right thing and that's what we're trying to do here."_

Freddie half joked, "I just can't get a waiver as Kirk did with the Organians in the first place before we found out what happened or how Capella IV is handled? We don't want the Klingons to get a foothold of the planet? We don't allow other systems to join the other star nations outside our borders."

" _You have a point Freddie. I'll see what I can do before you get there."_

The starship captain's jovial expression faded, not expecting that he could actually get such a thing, but he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. "Okay, but what about the Klingons? What if they show up?"

" _Remind them they're in Federation space and they have no claim to the planet. The treaty doesn't cover invasion."_

The former science officer fought a smirk and answered, "Yes sir."

Shay glanced to his right and added, _"I've sent you all the material about the situation, which is basically Kirk's logs and report. Hopefully it'll be enough for you so you don't go in blind."_

"Thank you Admiral. I'll do my best."

" _I know you will Captain, but one last thing… about your extra crewman? The Klingon?"_

Freddie sighed then cautiously asked, "What about her?"

" _How is she doing?"_

"She's doing fine. She's quite skilled in her field and a big help reconstructing what caused the chain of events that led to the loss of the rest of the survey team."

Shay raised a challenging eyebrow and asked, _"Is it wise to have her assistance since there is the question about whether what happened was accidental or intentional, particularly on her part?"_

Freddie blew out a tired breath and answered, "She has the most experience with the system, I'm having a few independently double-check the system behind her and it's easier to keep an eye on her just in case the worst is true."

" _But you could have a spy on your ship."_

"If she's collecting information, she hasn't transmitted to anyone. Other than this conversation, we've been running on radio silence other than periodic updates personally authorized by me. Besides, I just assumed she was a spy for Star Fleet Intelligence or…"

Freddie didn't have to finish the statement out as there was an understanding about another clandestine group within the Intelligence service.

Shay cocked an eyebrow and answered, _"The same thought had crossed my mind… but she's not as far as I can tell. What do you think about her?"_

"My gut says she's innocent, Jade on the other hand…"

Shay knotted his brow in an instant when his stepdaughter's name was mentioned. _"What about Jade?"_

"I don't know how much you knew about their rivalry in high school…"

A smile formed on the Admiral's face and chuckled, _"I know enough."_

"Anyway, Jade is definitely on the fence about her and not too happy."

" _I thought they settled that around graduation?"_ He added with a curious and somewhat confused tone, _"Is it because it turns out she's Klingon?"_

"No," he answered, confirming for the admiral that couldn't be the case. "…for the dishonesty during high school since she assumed she was part Centaurean too and the assumption that if she knew, she'd be a speciesist and somehow used it against her to one up her in school. She's finding that quite insulting, but no fights have broken out between them."

Shay cocked an eyebrow and answered, _"Oh… I can see why she would be upset."_

Freddie nodded along then a silence fell between, unsure if there was anything else to say.

The Admiral continued with a friendly smile, _"Well Captain, use your best judgment in regards to her and pass along your report as soon as it's completed. We do need to know if she really is a Klingon agent."_

"Yes sir."

" _Well, good luck Captain."_

"Thank you Admiral."

The screen switched back to the Federation seal.

Freddie pressed the communication stud next to the computer and called out, "Bridge, this is the Captain."

" _Harris here."_

"Commander, alter course to the Zeta Bootis system, planet Neural and increase to warp seven."

" _Aye sir."_

"Lieutenant Valentine?"

" _Yes sir?"_

"Get me the Enterprise. I need to speak with Captain Kirk. Hopefully they're still in real time communication range."

" _Aye, aye."_

"Once you're done with that, inform the senior officers we'll have staff meeting in an hour and read the briefings sent by Admiral Shay before the meeting."

"' _Kay, 'kay,"_ the communications officer happily acknowledged.

Freddie closed his eyes and let out a soft breath from his nostrils. A faint smile crossed his features then replied, "Thank you Valentine."

He pressed the communication switch then tapped a control on his monitor to start reading the Kirk's log and briefing he had filed. As he read the text, he saw that it was a textbook worst case scenario of a technological advance power interfering in the development of a less advance society. The Cygnans chaffed at the Prime Directive, wishing that the Federation would intervene on any number of primitive worlds to help them as they believed the 'Sky Fathers' did for them, but even they be horrified about what happened.

The Klingons had provided weapons alright to one side, the urban population, and they put the weapons to quick use against the rural population in theft, murder, kidnapping and rape. He saw the other side had bows and arrows, still quite effective and would eventually balance out the scales if they could cut off the supply from the Klingons.

After several minutes, the display switched from the Federation seal to the image of man in his very earlier thirties in a command green variant shirt with sandy brunette hair and long 'Academy' sideburns.

Freddie smiled and politely began, "Hello, Captain Kirk. I know we've never been properly introduced, but I'm Captain Fredrick Benson, commanding officer of the USS Tori."

The ruggedly handsome captain returned with a pleasant smile, _"Hello Captain Benson, a pleasure. What can I do for you?"_

Freddie sighed, reluctant to bring up the potentially sore subject, but pushed on anyway, "Star Fleet Command has assigned the Tori to try to clean up the Klingon contamination of Neural and I wanted to speak you before my ship arrived. I'm reading through your report and logs, but I wanted to hear it from you."

The brash starship captain tightened his smile, clearly troubled with how things had turned out on the mission then answered, _"Of course captain, what would you like to know?"_

"The situation on the ground. I read that the Villagers had the upper hand and you were contemplating arming the Hills people to balance things out. Did you think there was no way of finding an immediate peaceful solution to hostilities?"

" _Unfortunately no Captain. My… friend Tyree is a prominent member of the Hill people and his wife was murdered by a number of the Village people. At the moment he's driven by revenge at the moment to avenge the death of his wife. I doubt he'll see any reason until he burns his passion out or… is killed in the attempt and the Village people have the technological edge to simply take what they want. They have no incentive to stop."_

Freddie tightened his smile and answered, "I understand that pain quite well…"

The green shirt wearing captain looked to Freddie with a curious gaze then realized that he must have experienced a similar loss.

" _May I ask Captain what you intend to do? Specifically what are your orders if I may ask?"_

"I'm to remove the contamination to the best of my ability, which is to retrieve the firearms and hopefully get both sides to some kind of peaceful solution."

The older Star Fleet captain gave him a dubious expression and asked, _"Direct interference?"_

Freddie nodded and explained, "The Federation wants the Klingons out and were willing to waive the Prime Directive in this case to correct the problem. It's not like it's without precedence. They waived it for you when they wanted Organia. Before you found out what they were, I bet you were promising them everything under the sun to let us establish a base there."

Kirk rubbed his chin and grinned, answering with a jovial tone, "You wouldn't be wrong captain, but… I hate the idea that we'd be… the serpent in the garden…"

Freddie nodded along, "An interesting analogy, but… I would say it was the Klingons that were the serpent and we're the angels trying to restore Eden as best we could instead of exiling Adam and Eve…"

Kirk nodded his head then asked, _"I see your point, but so you believe you can do that by revealing more about ourselves to them?"_

Freddie sighed, still working out a plan, then answered, "I was hoping that we can limit it to the two side's leaders and the rest would believe that we're just a tribe from very far away. I realize that in of itself would potentially alter their society, but we have to do something to help them."

Kirk replied with a sympathetic smile, "It's a task that I don't envy you undertaking, but I wish you all the luck."

"Thank you Captain. I won't keep you any longer from your shore leave."

" _No thanks necessary captain, good journey."_

Conference Room  
USS Tori  
In route Neural

In the conference room, most of the senior staff was sitting around the isosceles triangle shaped table with an enclave cut into the side of the shortest base for the computer station. Trina, Tori and Rex sat on the side of the table with their backs to the door with Cat sitting at the end of the table and rounding to the other side Sinjin and André.

They were chatting about the report they had read in preparation for the staff meeting, a depressing piece where a native population bothering no one had their lives turned upside down by the Klingons. The only one that wasn't part of the conversation was the last minute addition to their meeting, Commander Vega. She was a little apprehensive, but felt better sitting beside her sister.

Tori's attention was on Rex like he was some specimen they had just scooped up from a planet, completely fascinated by him.

The helmsman shifted in his seat to the left and returned the gaze, raising an eyebrow and cocking a smile. "What sweet cheeks?"

The computer science specialist continued to stare at him with a dumbfounded expression. "I know it's been a few days, but… I'm still trying to wrap my head around you being Rex."

Rex flicked an eyebrow and his grin grew bigger, "Oh it's me… it's definitely me."

The lovely young woman shook her head and asked, "How?"

Trina interrupted, not feeling like going into details at the moment but felt she needed to tell her something to satisfy her curiosity, "Long story short, Robbie fell in an android making machine on Exo Three and instead of completely sucking his brain out to put him into one, it only took the Rex part of him."

"The 'Rex' part?"

"Yep, he doesn't remember anything from Rex's point of view."

"So he really did have multiple personality disorder?"

Rex shrugged a shoulder. "That's still up for debate. I just know I'm me."

"So, you're alive?"

The android cocked an eyebrow and answered with a teasing voice, "Yes I am… and fully functional."

Tori took a few moments to realize what he meant then her jaw slacked and her eyes went wide.

Trina turned an annoyed glare at him and growled, "Stop hitting on my sister Rex."

"I did that for years at Hollywood Arts. You were only bothered by it when I was flirting with you."

"You weren't 'flirting' with me…"

Rex was wise enough to keep his mouth shut from answering the question.

The doors parted and Robbie, Jade and Freddie entered the conference room. Robbie took his seat behind the computer station followed by Jade taking one seat down and next to André. The Captain took his seat between Robbie and Jade, realizing that they might need to get a bigger conference table, passing a quick glance over his staff.

Captain Benson rested his forearms on the table, lacing his fingers together. He passed a quick glance across everyone and started, "I assume everyone has read the logs and the reports about this current situation?"

Tori bashfully raised her hand and answered, "I'm still catching up on reading the logs sir. I didn't expect to be part of the senior staff meeting."

Freddie politely smiled to Tori and answered, "It's okay. My apologies for springing this up with you Commander, but I realized that you needed to be a part of this meeting. I actually hope that you'll play a vital role in my plan."

The brunette raised a curious eyebrow, surprised that the captain would include her in such a mission as she wasn't officially a member of the crew.

The captain bashfully smiled and pointed out, "I'm getting a head of myself." He nodded his head to the side then continued, "I have an idea about cleaning up the damage done by the Klingons' interference on Neural. I'm going to try to find Captain Kirk's friend, Tyree, and hope to convince him and his people to come to the negotiating table with the Village People to resolve their conflict."

Jade slightly turned her seat, resting her right elbow on the table and curiously asked, "What about the other side? They're the ones with flintlocks and were pushed by the Klingons to attack. Why would they even consider negotiating? They own all the cards."

"Bows and arrows can be more than a match for such a slow firing weapon and they don't have an extensive stock that we're aware of them having. We've cut off the Klingons from giving them more and there isn't any indication that they've learned to manufacture more. They're going to see that it's going to become a very bloody affair, especially when one side is led by a man seeking vengeance. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and realize the cost."

He paused to let his point sink in for his senior staff.

Lt. Commander Harris asked, "What if they don't?"

"Well I have two advantages that we can use to push it along."

Trina pointed out with a morbid laugh, "You're not talking about two squadrons of marines are you?"

Freddie faintly smiled as he answered, "No. My advantages are that I understand Tyree's lost and… I have Commander Vega."

The science officer blinked then glanced around the table, hoping the other officers understood what he meant.

Trina turned a worried look to her sister then back to the Captain.

The Captain sighed then continued, "I'm going to go see Tyree and hope to convince him to open up negotiations with the Village people while Commander Vega will impersonate the Villagers new Klingon handler and convince them that it's better to pull back and not escalate tensions. Hopefully they can see a bit of reason that their course of action could lead to further bloodshed."

The senior staff passed glances to one another, digesting the Captain's plan.

Tori's face looked like the color had drained from it and answered, "Sir… respectfully, I'm not sure I'm up for the task."

Freddie supportively smiled to her and replied, "You're a talented actress."

Trina barely lifted her eyes to her captain and questioned with a curt tone, "And it doesn't hurt that she's Klingon?"

The older Vega sister pointed to the elephant in the room and they waited for the potential fireworks to begin.

The captain calmly answered, "No it doesn't. It'll be far easier for her to pass as a Klingon officer in case they want to test her."

"How? Tori doesn't know Klingonese or anything about the Klingon Military structure to pass as an officer."

He patiently answered her question far more than other starship captains, "She has the appearance, acting ability and you can fill in the gaps."

"André has the appearance and can act," Trina suggested with a nod of her head to the chief navigator.

The former songsmith smiled at the compliment, but remained silent, knowing he should refrain from interrupting their conversation.

Trina's tone was bordering on insubordination, but Freddie calmly replied, "I'd prefer André on the bridge while Commander Shapiro, I and you are on the surface. I don't want all my senior line officers on the surface in case the Klingons slip past the border again. Sinjin isn't a line officer, your sister isn't a line officer, so it would fall on—"

Rex happily spoke up, "It would be me."

The security officer's mouth became a thin line, unable to initially object to the logic as she didn't think Rex would have the temperament of command and wouldn't want to put him in that position.

"I'll do it," Tori quietly spoke up, cutting the building tension in the room.

Trina turned a concerned gaze to her sister, questioning with just a look whether she was serious.

"I don't have much familiarity with Klingon military protocol or life, but I'm sure I can study up enough by the time we arrive and Trina will be there to help me… I will do my duty sir."

Freddie nodded in approval then continued, "Vega, Harris, brief Commander Vega on as much of Klingon military etiquette as you can before we arrive and make sure the ship's store provides accurate uniforms for them and get the armory to mock up Klingon disruptors."

Harris dutifully answered, "Yes sir."

The captain glanced around the conference room, seeing there were no other questions or objections stated, "If there is nothing else, we have work to do before we arrive. Dismissed."

The officers stood up from their seats almost in unison then began filing out of the room, however, Trina remained seated. Tori paused and looked back to see why her sister was waiting, but a quick glance from the older Vega told her not to start an argument.

Jade paused at the door as well, directing a questioning gaze at Freddie, but he gently smiled to let her know it would be fine for her to go. She gave him a nod and was the last one out of the room.

The doors closed, leaving the captain and security officer alone.

Freddie gently asked, "I assume you wanted to speak to me in private?"

Trina stood up and spoke in a clipped tone, her intention clearly meaning to show a little offense towards the captain, "She is not responsible to clean up every Klingon mess because she's Klingon and you have no right to put her in that position."

Freddie squared his jaw and took a slow breath. He put on a disarming smile and replied, "I'm not assuming any such thing. I asked her because I believe that it will give us the best shot at trying to diffuse the situation. I need them to believe she's representing the Klingon Empire and the fact that she's biologically Klingon would go a long way to pull that off. She'll be able to pass as a Klingon because she's Klingon. If we had to infiltrate one of the Orion Pirates enclaves, would you object for me to ask for one of the Orion crewmembers? You don't believe that the G.I.A. isn't using Vulcans to try to infiltrate the Romulans? I'm using the tools I have at hand to try salvage this situation that Kirk failed to clean up."

Trina clenched her jaw for a second then sighed, slumping his shoulders. She answered in a tired voice, "My sister isn't a line officer, Hell… her going out on that station was the first time she left the capital region. She never applied for a deep space assignment and be out here in this… craziness of the final frontier."

"Lieutenant… Trina, I don't need to tell you the obligations we have when we put on that uniform… unexpected obligations where we have to sometimes step up to challenges we may never expect. This is one of those times I'm having to ask her to rise up to a duty she didn't expect, but I know is important."

The security officer thought on his words then calmly answered, "I know, but… you need to understand this: if something happens and it's a choice between my sister and them… then to Hell with them and the Prime Directive."

"I know… and it'll be my responsibility for putting you into an impossible situation."

Trina looked relieved that he would have her back then replied, "Thank you Captain."

"You're welcome, now go help your sister and tell her that she has your full confidence in pulling this off."

The security officer nodded the headed out the door, leaving the Captain to go over his decision.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope this opening chapter has enticed you to see what will happen next with the crew of the USS Tori.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello dear readers, I have for you another chapter of my little side project. I didn't realize that it had been a month since the last update. I thought I had updated since then and waiting to finish up a chapter to another story, but anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Coincidentally, BBC America is showing the Star Trek episode, 'A Private Little War', that this story is a sequel today.

Fanfic-Reader-88: The others are welcoming her with open arms because they know her, Robbie has to still sneak around to see if she's really a traitor or not, Jade is still weary after the assumption she'd be a specieist in high school and Freddie having to still contemplate the possibility.

They're walking into a hornet's nest with two sides at each other's throats all because the Klingons wanted to use proxies to take over the planet.

Invader Johnny: Thanks for reading. I hope I will capture her neurotic nature in this piece because we're not talking about her just screwing up a performance, but people potentially dying if it's not pulled off.

Rating: T

* * *

Chapter 2

Captain's Log, Stardate Four-Three-Zero-Seven-point-One: _We've reached orbit of Neural and so far, we haven't detected any Klingon vessels. I'm hoping when they realized that Captain Kirk found them out, they decided to cut their losses. However, if they haven't, we'll deal with any unexpected surprises. After we reach orbit, I intend to beam down with Commander Shapiro and Doctor West to speak with Tyree, a prominent individual of the Hill People awhile Commander Vega and Lieutenant Vega beam down to contact the Village People in the hopes of nudging the two sides into peace if not find some way to remove the weapons to at least balance out the scale the Klingons offset._

USS Tori  
Neural  
Zeta Bootis System

Captain Benson sat in his command chair, intently watching the view screen as the ship slowed down to warp two as it traveled through the system. He glanced over to his right and asked, "Sensor readings Commander?"

Robbie remained seated in his seat and looked at the various monitors at his station, each showing a different area of space that the sensors were sweeping. He glanced over his left shoulder and answered, "No contacts in the immediate area."

"Good." He looked to Rex and ordered, "As soon as we're in range, drop to impulse power and assume standard orbit over the general vicinity of the Enterprise's landing party's position."

"Aye Captain," Rex answered as he expertly controlled the helm.

Freddie got up from his seat and called out, "Commander Harris, you have the conn. Commander…"

Robbie stood up from his seat and headed for the turbolift while Freddie tapped a control stud on the right armrest of his seat and called out, "Doctor West, report to transporter room two."

Transporter Room

Freddie was pulling his field jacket over his shoulders as he entered the transporter room along with Robbie and Jade. He paused, startled for a moment at seeing the computer science specialist in the Klingon uniform of a dull silver tunic over a long sleeve black turtleneck shirt and matching dull silver pants and black boots. He bashfully smiled to her and commented, "You definitely look the part Commander. Hopefully you can fool them long enough to save them."

Tori bowed her head and answered, "Thank you Captain."

Freddie looked to Trina, who wore an identical uniform, but with a different rank insignia. He noticed she looked uncomfortable about the situation. He gave her a sympathetic smile and asked, "Are you ready?"

Tori bashfully nodded and answered, "Honestly sir, I'm still a little nervous."

Jade remarked in an almost mocking manner as she adjusted her field jacket, "It's a role Tori. It's just like any other part you played in high school."

The brunette looked to her former rival and retorted, "This isn't just any performance. I'm having to fool someone into believing I'm their new handler and that not giving them anymore weapons is for the best; it's a complete turnaround to what they've been doing. Lives are on the line, not whether or not I get a bad grade or review."

The doctor lazily shrugged a shoulder and replied, "If you can't hack it then let Trina do the talking. You can just stand there and look pretty as you did for most of your roles that Sikowitz handed you."

Tori knotted her brow then clenched her jaw, seeing the old Jade come out that she hadn't seen in years.

Trina turned a stern look to the doctor and snapped, "Enough Jade."

The doctor took a step towards Trina asked in a challenging voice, "Enough what? Did I say something that wasn't true? If she's not comfortable talking then she should trust you to do it. That when we were in high school Sikowitz showed undue favoritism to Tori for roles?"

Freddie interrupted in a commanding voice, "Chief, crewmen, could you give us a moment."

"Yes sir," the red shirt operator answered then walked around the transporter console along with his assistant in work fatigues and out of the room with the two security crewmen.

As soon as the doors closed, Freddie turned a stern look at the three ladies and stated, "Enough." He looked to Jade and stated, "I know you're angry and feel betrayed…" He looked to Trina to finish, "…and I know you're doing what you believe you need to do to protect your sister, but you are professionals and you need to behave in accordance of such positions while you are in the presence of the crew. If you want to hash it out, you do it in private, not in front of them. Is that understood Doctor, Lieutenant?"

The pair shared embarrassed expressions with one another with the dressing down, remaining silent.

He asked again in a clipped tone, "I asked if that was understood?"

The question jarred them out of their surprise and each mumbled a yes sir.

Freddie eyed them for a few more moments, neither to able to meet his eyes, then looked to Tori, feeling more uncomfortable seeing that her presence was disruptive. "Commander Vega, I need to know if you are up to this. The mission rides on you being confident enough to convince them to stop."

"I will do my duty to the best of my ability sir."

"That's all I ask."

Freddie turned back to the door, activating the sensor and called for the transporter operator and security crewmen. The chief returned to his duty station and double checked the dual set of coordinates for the split landing party.

Tori and Trina were the first to step onto the transporter pad then moments later, disappeared in a shimmering pillar of gold.

The three officers and two security crewmen stepped up to the transporter pad. Jade stood beside Freddie and quietly whispered to him, "Sorry."

Freddie remained silent, unsure how to answer as captain or her family, as the transporter beam swept them up.

Outskirts of Hill People Encampment  
Neural

Five gold shimmering pillars appeared in the dry grassy clearing about half a quarter of a mile from the Hill People's village. The Star Fleet personnel quickly glanced around to familiarize their surroundings.

Freddie raised a hand over his brow and shielded his eyes as he looked towards the direction of the encampment. He asked towards Robbie, "Any of those creatures we were warned about?"

Robbie looked down at his tricorder and answered with a slight shake of his head, "I'm not reading any in the immediate area, just near human lifeforms."

"Location, distance?"

Robbie pointed ahead of them toward some small hills covered with thick brush and trees. "About half a dozen men scattered on the hills about a hundred meters out."

Freddie nodded his head then ordered, "Good defensive position…"

Jade took a step closer to him and asked, "What should we do?"

He turned his head with a confident smile and answered, "Say hello."

He started leading the landing party towards the middle of the twin hills towards the obvious pathway. Jade followed lock step behind him while Robbie kept his eyes glued to the tricorder as he walked and the security crewmen keeping their eyes peeled on their surroundings.

After several dozen yards, several men stepped out of the brush on top of the hills with their bows in a ready position to raise them and pull back a shot at the Star Fleet crew with a moment's notice. They were tall and blonde, their hair wildly sticking outward and upward and glittering symbols in the center of their foreheads. They were dressed in brown leather vests, pants and wool covered boots.

The security crewmen had their phaser carbines at a semi-raised position to return fire, knowing that they could at least pick off two in rapid succession then lay down suppression fire along the top of the hills long enough for an emergency beam-out if necessary.

Freddie's posture and expression remained unimpressed and called out, "Hello, I am Fredrick Benson and I'm looking for Tyree. I am an acquaintance of a friend of his, James Kirk. I wish to speak with him."

The men looked cautiously to the Star Fleet personnel and traded looks of mild confusion of what they should do. One of them called out, "Where are you from?"

"We're… from a great distance away. I wish to discuss with him the threat you face with people of the village."

They passed concerned glances among themselves then one of them asked, "How do we know you're not some trick from them to get us into an ambush or attempt to kill him?"

Freddie shook his head and honestly answered, "You don't, but you have the high ground and can see that we are alone." He motioned backwards to further his point, "There is no force behind us that could attack you."

The leader of the patrol contemplated his words, seeing that they were alone, but concern they had gotten so close to the camp without being detected.

He called out to Freddie, "Wait here." He spoke to one of the other men then the subordinate rushed off back into the brush and presumably towards the Hill people's encampment.

Freddie nodded his head then passed a glance to Robbie, indicating, so far, so good.

The first speaker of the Hills people shouted towards them, "Why do you care about our battle with the Village people?"

"Because our enemy is the ones giving them the weapons they are using against you and we want to put a stop to it."

The leader of the band raised a surprised eyebrow, clearly stunned with the answer. He and the others began quietly whispering to one another, keeping a guarded eye on them.

Freddie quickly followed up, "That is what I what I wish to discuss with him in private."

The leader of the band looked as if he was thinking again then motioned his head behind him the started down the hill of the path between the mounds of dirt for them to follow him.

Freddie lead the way again while the others kept their guard up with the other Hill people on the hills watching them like hawks and the leader of the guards walking down to join and escort them to the settlement.

After perhaps half an old football field in length behind the hills and lightly forested area on either side of the recently traveled path, they reached a clearing with dozens of canvas structures similar to the old tepee that the Native Americans used centuries ago on the plans of mid-west United States. There were dozens of more people going about their businesses to make it a bustling area of community.

As the Star Fleeters were being lead further into the encampment, they were getting stares from the local inhabitants. Freddie kept his focus forward, but Jade and Robbie passed them polite smiles to try to show they were friendly.

They eventually reached somewhere in the center of the encampment and had gathered a bit of an audience from the women and children.

A tall man with near platinum blonde hair arrayed in a mostly vertical fashion was escorted to approach the off-worlders. He wore a weary expression and one with haunted eyes, a look that Freddie had been all too familiar in seeing in the mirror. He glanced over the strangers, finding their clothing odd, but he did realize that two carried weapons vaguely resembling the rifles from the Village People.

He looked to Freddie, assuming he was the leader and asked, "I am told you know my friend, James Kirk."

"I'm from the same place as he… we serve the same people as brothers-in-arms, though I have only spoken with him once. I actually spoke with him a few hours ago and I'm here to help your people."

The blonde man cautiously asked, "You're here to help? Help me defeat the Village people?"

"We're here to end the conflict that the Klingons started."

"The King-ouns?"

"They are a people that… my people don't have very good relations with and we found out… Kirk found out that they were giving the Village people weapons to use against you. We're here to try to stop them from getting any more weapons and help restore peace between your peoples."

Tyree hissed out as his anger flared in his eyes, "There cannot be peace. They have taken too much from us, killed too many of us."

"They will give back what they can give back and hopefully we can help you find the peace that the Klingons broke." He took a long glance over to the gathered tribesmen and women. "Is everyone ready to sacrifice more to balance out a scale? To feed the bloodlust starting to consume you?"

His question to the rest of them caused them to start murmuring among themselves, some offended that he would assert himself into their business while others were willing to listen to what he had to say if it meant an end to the killing.

Tyree looked to his tribesmen, seeing a questioning discontent ripple through them like a way. He quickly attempted to reassert control, "We have a right to defend ourselves… to protect what is ours."

"Yes you do, but before the Klingons arrived to give weapons to the villagers, you were at peace with them? Or am I mistaken?"

A blonde lovely young woman stepped forward, with a hint of Nordic features, and answered, "Yes, it's true. We were at peace and mostly kept to ourselves, but we'd sometimes go to the village for trade… and to have company… let our children play… I had friends there, but now… the men are fighting…"

Tyree turned a disapproving glance towards her, but other women started to murmuring among themselves, clearly agreeing with the regretful turmoil that had come between their peoples.

Freddie pushed on, "Our enemy intends to use the Village people to subjugate the land and all the people that live here, Village and Hill people alike by using a handful of men with their weapons to direct all of them. We don't wish any of you to be subjugated and we intend to do something about it, hopefully with your help."

Tyree thought on Freddie's words and saw the shift in the rest of the tribe's sentiment. They were hungry for the fighting to stop for their respective reasons and apparently willing to listen to any voice of hope as a way to stop it. He needed to take back control of the situation. He suggested, "We need to discuss this further… in private."

"Yes, we should discuss this in private."

Tyree motioned behind him towards the other edge of the encampment. "This way, but you must leave your weapons."

Freddie calmly answered, "No."

Tyree paused, perhaps startled that Freddie would be so dismissive of his request.

The starship captain continued, unafraid and stern, "I will not allow my crew or myself be left defenseless, especially from a man potentially consumed by vengeance and would do anything to see it through."

Tyree took a sharp breath and the rest of the tribes people were stunned silent, waiting to see the response of their leader. He studied the young captain, seeing a cool calculation in his eyes and unafraid.

"Very well, keep your weapons, but I trust you to be as honorable as Kirk."

"We are and I intend to prove it to you."

Tyree motioned with his head to follow him. He began walking deeper into the settlement with two other large men walking with him. Freddie lead the troop of Star Fleet personnel behind them and a number of the tribeswomen followed, eager to overhear what would determine the fate of their people. They reached an end of it to a large mouth opening of a cave with a large canvas over it to shield it from the elements.

One of Tyree's bodyguards parted the canvas and allowed them to enter the cave, but the two security crewmen remained outside the entrance of the cave with the eager tribeswomen watching them, hoping for the best. Several of Tyree's men remained outside with them, giving the security crewmen cautious looks.

Inside the cave and away from the eyes and ears of the others other than his two bodyguards, Tyree sharply turned to Freddie and demanded, "What do you know about my vengeance?"

Freddie calmly answered, "What James told me. That a few members of the neighboring settlement murdered your wife… a wife that was about to sell you out to them by giving them one of our weapons."

Tyree's expression turned to a furious expression and in nearly a blinding motion, he reached for his knife by his side, but Freddie was faster in reaching just behind his right hip and drawing out his KA-BAR, bringing it around in a reverse grip to bring the edge to the native's neck. He could easily slash across his corroded artery and end him.

The two other Neural natives reached for their tomahawks while Robbie's hand reached for his phaser in his thigh holster, but kept the butt of his hand on the handle and kept it in the holster. Jade palmed over her palm phaser on her belt, ready to draw it and defend her captain.

There was a tense standoff for several moments, seeing which side would draw their weapons.

The taller man took a sharp breath in surprise, staring into the young captain's eyes.

Freddie quietly continued, a breath away from ending the man's life, "The truth can hurt and heal and I know that must be tearing you up inside to have lost her and you don't want to think about why it happened… why it didn't have to happen yet it did?"

"What do you know of my pain?"

A morbid smile formed on Freddie's face as he answered, "You're not the only one that has had to bury a wife."

The Neural native studied the stranger's eyes for several moments then clenched his jaw, seeing the truth. He lowered his knife and raised his left hand.

Freddie lowered his arm then slowly sheathing his combat knife. He kept a domineering stare towards Tyree and asked, "Are the ones that murdered your wife dead?"

"Yes."

"Then let it end there. The ones responsible for her death are gone. You don't keep killing people to fill that hole in your heart."

"But they're killing us."

"And that's the reason we're here: to stop the killing and bring peace. What kind of peace do you want? The kind where the other side has been wiped out or where you can go back to living in harmony with one another?"

One of Tyree's apparent lieutenants spoke up, "I don't enjoy killing and don't wish to keep doing it, but Tyree is right. What will stop them from killing us? They still have a number of our women though and we can't let them keep them."

Freddie gave him a thoughtful look and answered, "Any peace made with them would have to include returning them and the property they stole. The ones responsible for attacking your people… perhaps the other Villagers will hold them responsible for their actions against you."

The second bodyguard snorted out, "Why would they want to punish their own?"

"Do you think everyone would approve of what they're doing? One of your tribeswomen spoke of having friends in the village; do you think they approve? Do you believe that they wouldn't voice their objection to their fathers, husbands, brothers?"

Jade spoke up with a smirk, "Don't underestimate a determined woman."

Tyree turned a glance to Jade, seeing the confident look in her eyes and dark hair that reminded him of his late wife. He shook away the recalled feelings and asked, "Even if you say is true, why would they suddenly want peace?"

"Even with the firearms they have, I'd wager that you're starting to give them a fight. Your bows and arrows are more accurate and you can fire them a lot faster. You know the land far better than they, so you're probably stalking them as the animals you hunt and ending them just as quickly and silently… and some of them are growing sour to the idea that they're not making sport of you anymore. They will probably be willing to come to the negotiating table, especially since we're going to make sure that they don't get any more weapons."

Tyree and his companions exchanged stunned expressions, clearly taken aback that Freddie had apparently assessed the situation so accurately. They saw that he was a man that easily grasped their fledgling military tactics. He took a shallow breath then answered, "You're correct. They're weapons are powerful, but they are slow to reload and we're showing them that they aren't safe outside of the village… what do you propose we do?"

The starship captain sighed in relief that he was getting somewhere. "We're going to arrange a meeting between you and the Village people. We will be mediators and provide security to both sides so that you can safely negotiate a peace settlement."

There was a pregnant pause, silence falling between them as Tyree clearly thought on the offer. Freddie suspected that he was weighing what was best for his people and satisfying his own personal vendetta. He eventually asked for an alternative, "You could just give us weapons… better weapons that could end the fighting in one swift move. The weapons your people carry while traveling the stars."

Robbie and Jade passed nervous glances with the unspoken truth out in the open.

Freddie remained cool and calm, expecting the tribal leader to know the truth about their origin and answered, "Yes, with our weapons it was be a quick fight where only a handful would probably die, but we don't want to stop it that way… a way that would let you subjugate them either."

Tyree and looked to his companions, weighing the captains words. They turned away from the Star Fleet officers and whispered among themselves. After several moments, Tyree turned back to them and answered, "For my people, I'm willing to talk with the Village people, but we won't be subject to their whims or demands."

Freddie nodded along and answered, "We'll make sure they are fair negotiations, so we'll contact them and see if they're willing to talk and inform them they will no longer be getting any more weapons from the Klingons."

Tyree looked wearily to Freddie, but decided he had no real alternative but to keep fighting and shed more blood on each side.

Village People's Settlement

Two gold pillars swirled and solidified into Tori and Trina about a hundred meters outside of the village. Tori glanced around to see the rustic surroundings of the surrounding grasslands and the occasional trees as if she dropped back into an earlier, simpler time while the Trina looked to her tricorder to confirm their location.

Trina commented as she looked to the tricorder modeled after the Klingons' tricorders, "I'm reading a few hundred individuals in the village and surrounding area."

"It's like was stepped right into the past… like some medieval village."

"They're a few centuries to go to get to that point… more like the permanent settlements made of mud and brick from the US Southwest.

"Unless the Klingons help them with that too."

The security officer struggled with a smile, seeing her point. No one could fault the desire for a greater standard of living, but the price that the Klingons would extract from them would be horrible.

Tori looked towards the village and started walking towards it, finding the path leading to the main entrance of the wooden fortifications surrounding the village.

They spotted a few of the natives going about their business around the village, drawing their attention with their dress and getting curious and fearful stares. A few stopped what they were doing and ran back to the village, slipping inside to presumably warn of their approach.

The science officer whispered to her sister, "I don't like this…"

"We need to get their attention and we're getting it. Just be ready to shoot if you have to," the security officer replied as she comfortably rested her palm over the grip of her fake distruptor.

Three dark haired men wearing primitive cotton shirts and pants and holding flintlock rifles passed through the entrance and cautiously started approaching them.

The two sides met just a dozen yards outside of the village, taking assessment of each other. Tori looked to the man in the center and boldly called out, "I'm here to see your leader."

"You're not one of the Hill people, but you're not one of us either. Who are you?"

"I am K'Tori and I am from a place very far away. I'm here to see your leader. We have urgent business to discuss."

The trio exchanged quick glances with one another then the first man to speak answered, "I'm sure we can discuss anything you need to talk to him about…"

One approached with a leering gaze, obviously intending to grab one of them.

Trina was quick to draw her disruptor cased phaser and fired. The short blue beam left the barrel and struck the man square in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards and into unconsciousness. She swept the weapon towards the others and growled, "The next shot won't be on stun."

The pair took a step backwards, clearly fearful of the women after the display as if she had just shot magic from her hand.

Tori squared her shoulders and fiercely demanded, "I am here to see your leader, the one my people graciously gave the very weapons you're holding in your hands."

The villagers cautiously passed glances to one another, failing to hide their stunned expression from her claim, but quickly making a decision. The taller one nodded his head and motioned a hand behind him towards the village.

Trina motioned with her distruptor and instructed them, "You first."

He looked reluctant to be the first one to move, but Trina sternly added, "If you're thinking about ambushing us, know this: if anything happens to us, dozens of men will come down with even more powerful weapons and raze your village to the ground to avenge us."

Tori turned a concerned look to her sister, but she remained quiet as to not contradict her.

The villager sighed, but listened to her instructions. They took a moment to pick up their friend and grudgingly took the lead towards the village.

Village  
Neural

The two villagers led Tori and Trina through the quaint village, one with fairly well built masonry and brick built buildings. They were getting curious glances from the townspeople going about their business, clearly not used to outside visitors. They passed a few children running pass and playing until they reached a two story building.

They stopped in front of the building and one of the villagers leading them instructed, "Wait here."

Trina looked cautiously to the one that remained, still holding up his unconscious friend until he decided to let him slide down the wall and slump onto the ground. She offered in a clipped tone, "He should wake up soon…"

The dark haired villager nodded his understanding, but there was still a hint of fear and apprehension in his eyes.

After several more moments, the first villager returned to the door and spoke, "Apella will see you."

Tori passed a glance with the corner of her eye to Trina then answered, "Good. Our business is urgent."

He stepped aside and opened the door for them, allowing Tori to enter first with Trina keeping a cold eye on him to remind him not to attempt anything.

Once inside, he let the door close then led them up the steps to the second floor. He opened the door again and allowed them to enter where they found an older gentleman with a younger woman around the Star Fleet officers' ages.

The black haired villager attempted to keep the surprise off his face, instead trying to project a cautious gaze to the two undercover Star Fleet officers, recognizing their uniforms, but not them. He curtly asked them, "Who are you?"

Tori quickly answered, "Are you the leader? The one that my colleague has been doing business?"

He straightened up then looked to the others, seeing their curious gazes. He curtly ordered his female companion and the villager that escorted the pair up, "Leave us."

The other villagers looked hesitant to one another, but followed his instructions and walked out of the room and headed down stairs.

Once the door closed behind the last of the entourage, the older gentleman answered, "Yes, I am Apella. Where is Krell?"

Tori assumed that was the name of the Klingon, filing it away to look up the name once she was back on the ship. She rallied an authoritative voice and answered, "He's on another assignment temporarily. In the meantime, I have been ordered to become your contact and to inform you the change in policy."

A worried expression immediately formed on his face and he asked, "And what policy is that?"

"You're going to make peace with the Hill People."

The dark haired older man forced a smile, one that showed his distress, and cautiously pointed out, "Peace with them? I thought I was going to be the Klingon governor of this planet one day… I can't make peace with them."

Tori fought the expression of surprise at the absurdity of what the Klingons had apparently promised him. However, she maintained her cool and answered, "You still may, but our enemy the Federation is now aware of our… assistance to you. They are not happy and may could start giving weapons to the Hill People, so we must now take a different approach to insure our mutual interests aren't threatened."

Apella knotted his brow, not happy with the turn of events and asked, "If this… 'Federation' will help the Hill People with weapons, why not give us more and better ones so we can destroy them first? Krell told me he would start giving us better weapons over time."

"Yes, when it wasn't suspected we wouldn't be giving them to you. You are intelligent enough to make them on your own and improve them, so no one would suspect we were helping you, but now… they know and the ruse is pointless. If we started openly giving you even better weapons, it would turn into a never ending arms race, one we couldn't keep secret and could cause our empires to go to war… a war that would leave your world a ball of ashes… and that's the best case scenario."

Her words were sound and there was a passion behind them that chilled the older man. What disturbed him more was her suggestion that things could be worst. "How could it be worst?"

"The Organ—the gods, the gods would find out and would side with the Federation against us and any dream you had in leading this planet would be gone."

The older man's eyes widened, surprised by unexpected turn of the conversation. He uttered in mild shock, "The gods?"

"Yes, the gods…" She motioned up above them. "…that are in the heavens. They are out there and they stopped us from fighting… to prevent us from letting your world and others that would be burned in our conflict. I do not wish to be at the end of their wrath."

Apella laughed and shook his head, mocking them, "You must take me for a fool to believe such a thing. The gods will interfere?"

Tori frowned and turned a cold glare onto him, trying to channel her 'inner Klingon' if such a thing was possible. She took a step towards him and answered, "I'd take you for a fool not to heed our words. The Empire is not willing to go to war over your planet or stand against the gods that could snuff us out with a wave of their hands. I don't care about your religious beliefs, whether you believe they exist or not. It is not a matter of faith to us, but cold reality."

The native studied Tori's expression for several moments then her companion, seeing the same conviction on her face. He gauged that they were being honest with him, as terrifying a thought as that might be. He quietly answered, "What is it that you want me to do?"

"You will call off your attacks on the Hills people and foster peace between your peoples, perhaps even winning more over to your side with the more reliable lifestyle and protection. Hopefully this will lull the Federation into a false sense of security… we will just have to shift the timetable of our plans."

Apella cautiously answered, "And once that is done?"

Tori nodded her head to the side and answered, "They won't be keeping such an eye on the planet then we can continue our plan to make you governor. Klingons do conquer, but it is not always with the sword…"

The Village leader may not have appreciated that his position would take a little longer to obtain, but he was content in knowing that with a simple shift in strategy, it was still within his reach.

"What should we do now?"

"You'll need to send a peace envoy to them so they'll be willing to talk."

"We can't approach their camps. They'll just shoot us on sight."

Tori thought for a moment, passing a look to Trina to see if she had any ideas, but suddenly remembered something in Kirk's logs. "Send one of the women you've taken from them."

Apella looked uncomfortable with the suggestion, tightening his smile.

The science officer had little patience for his obvious desire to keep the women they had kidnapped. She questioned with a sharp tone, "You're willing to hold on to one woman over gaining a planet?"

The elder Neuralian frowned, embarrassingly seeing her point. "Give me a moment." He walked past them to the door and slipped out of the room. His shouts downstairs could be heard in the room, causing the sister to wearily look at one another.

Apella returned with a carefree smile and answered, "I've ordered one of them to be fetched. In the meantime, would you like something to drink?"

Tori realized that she had played the harsh Klingon long enough, seeing that she also had to offer the carrot to keep the native agreeable. "Yes, thank you."

A few minutes into their awkward sitting and enjoying the native drink, a man returned, dragging a young blonde woman by the upper arm that looked like she was in her late teens. She looked well taken care of from her appearance, but her eyes darted about, fearful for what they could possibly have in store for her.

Trina resisted the urge to grab her phaser and put a nice phaser shot through his face and out the back of his head.

Tori walked to the girl, having to suppress her compassion and immerse herself into the role. She cupped under her chin and whispered coldly to her, "Listen to me very carefully. I want you to go back to your people and tell them that the villagers want to discuss making peace with them. You will tell them that this is a genuine offer and we will meet at a neutral location of their choosing. They can send a messenger back letting us know when and where they want to meet that will be protected from harm. Do you understand me?"

The blonde darted her eyes to the one that dragged her into the room then past Tori's shoulder to Apella.

The brunette practically barked at the frightened girl, "I'm the one speaking to you, not him. Do you understand?"

She nodded her head, fearing a shiver of fear run through her body.

"Then go…" She looked to the one that brought the young woman to them and instructed him, "Make sure she is free to leave the village… and do not follow her. I don't want them to catch you and ruin a potential meeting."

The village turned an offensive glare toward Tori and looked as if he was about to object, but Trina stepped forward, pulled back her right hand and backhanded him, causing him to take a stumble back before righting his feet. She spat in disgust as he cupped the side of his cheek, "Don't you dare look at us like that. We're not your property and don't you believe for one moment that you're our better."

The villager looked as if he was contemplating challenging her from the insult laid at him, but a quick motion of Apella's head told him that he should do as he was told. He turned, taking the blonde with him and leaving the room to the three.

Trina turned to face Apella and spoke with barely constrained anger, "I don't care how you treat your women, but Klingon women stand for no insult and will not be treated as anything less than Klingon… it is something you'll have to learn when you become a Klingon Governor."

The village elder nodded his head, feeling a real fear in his gut. He didn't understand Klingons too well other than they were a powerful and prideful people and apparently their women were the same. The only bright side of the situation was they were still interested in making him a Klingon.

Tori interrupted before Trina could frighten him any further, "If you have any men that will attempt to sabotage this meeting, you will make sure they do not attend. We need this peace now so that we can take the whole later… for you to be able to rule later. Is that understood?"

Apella nodded his head, understanding quiet clearly that his fortunes were attached to the success of temporary peace. He forced a smile and motioned to the native food and drink they had begun enjoying. "Shall we continue while we wait to hear word back?"

* * *

Author's Note: Well, so far, so good with making contact with the parties. We'll just have to see if they can pull off some kind of peace settlement when on side is led by a man still grieving for the death of his wife and wanting vengeance while the other wants power. Take care, OneHorseShay.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Okay, this has been a very long time coming in updating really any of my fics. Life has a way of getting in the way of, well life. Lot of changes over the last year that have cut into my writing time and trying to get back into the habit. Hope you enjoy this update.

An update to my disclaimer: CBS Corporation owns the Star Trek franchise and Viacom iCarly/Victorious, don't own, don't sue.

Oh, and Star Trek: Discovery didn't happen in this universe. That is another weird alternate universe separate from Prime, JJ Abrams' Star Trek and Star Fleet Battles (Which I do draw inspiration from). Though, I did like their take on communicators, phasers and phaser rifles and their version of the Enterprise.

On with the story.

* * *

Chapter 3

Several kilometers away from the main village, Freddie and Tyree with two other hunters were walking towards the village. Robbie and one of the security crewmen were trailing several dozen yards behind them leading a small band of the Hill people hunters in case the Villagers didn't accept the olive branch. Jade decided to remain in the village to assure the others that everything would be fine and take the opportunities to examine any of the ill and give them tips for sanitation. It was of course a blatant violation of non-interference policy, but she considered her Hippocratic Oath to supersede that law.

The walk had for the most part been quiet as they kept a keen eye out to make sure they didn't run into a patrol from the Village people.

Tyree finally broke the silence with a sideways glance towards the starship captain and asked, "Benson, I've been thinking as we've walked. It is one thing to appeal for peace to us, it is another with them after all that they've done. Do you think they'll be open to peace?"

Freddie cracked a half-hearted smile as he answered, "Maybe, maybe not, but we have to make the offer that they'll have to consider once they learn they won't be getting any more weapons. You have the advantages if they continue to wish to fight and they'll be the ones that will lose in the end."

"You're hoping that reason will prevail over greed?"

"Yes and if not… I guess you'll be the one starting to take over their homes," he sighed with a tired voice.

Tyree's mind drifted to wondering if he and his people would turn into the Villagers and just start taking what they wanted from them. As much as his soul still cried for vengeance, he was becoming weary of the whole affair.

Any response he would give was interrupted when they spotted in the distance a figure desperately running towards them. The bodyguards raised their bows and flintlocks, ready to fire, but Tyree held up a hand for them to lower their weapons.

They cautiously approached her, watching out for anyone chasing her hiding in the brush as she continued to desperately run towards them.

She basically crashed into Tyree as he caught her by the upper arms. He gently shook her to get her attention and spoke, "It's alright, you're safe."

She took several breaths, trying to gain her bearings then recognized Tyree. "Tyree?"

"Yes it's me. You're safe," he answered with a comforting smile.

The starship captain's eyes darted between the two and asked, "Who is she?"

He turned his head to look at Freddie and answered, "She was one of the girls taken by the Villagers."

Freddie nodded then looked to the blonde and asked, "So you escaped?"

The young blonde turned her gaze to the stranger, finding his attire odd along with his dark hair. She shook her head and answered, "No, they let me go."

The starship captain knotted his brow and questioned, suspicion lacing his voice, "Why?"

She looked hesitant to answer the stranger turning her eyes to Tyree.

The platinum blonde leader nodded his head and replied, "It's alright. Why did they let you go?"

"They wanted me to deliver a message. The villagers want to talk, to stop the fighting. They want us to have peace."

Tyree knotted his brow then looked to Freddie, wondering if he had something to do with the Villagers' sudden willingness to talk. He couldn't believe it was just a coincidence they were willing to talk.

Freddie shrugged a shoulder and answered, apparently reading the look in the Hillman's eyes, "The Klingons must have realized that we know, so they're trying to clean up their mess before things escalate with us."

Tyree looked back to the young girl and asked, "Why do they want to talk?"

"I don't know, but it looked like a stranger was telling them to do it. She's the one that told me to leave and deliver the message. Her companion actually slapped one of Apella's men for looking at her in a disrespectful manner."

Tyree cocked an eyebrow, clearly surprised of such news. He could barely comprehend the concept of a woman being able to get away with such a thing to a Villager. He regained his composure and asked, "Who were these strangers?"

The young blonde answered with shortened breaths, still regaining it from the run, "I don't know… They were two women. They had long… dark hair, but not as dark as the villagers and their skin a little darker than mine… as if she had been kissed by the sun. Her clothing was different then the villagers. Her shirt and pants were grey with black sleeves."

"Klingons," Freddie offered with a slight nod of his head.

Tyree turned a questioning gaze to the starship question.

"So they realized they were caught and trying to fix it before things get out of hand. They'll push them to peace to prevent a conflict with us."

"It sounds more like a trick."

"On their part, yes, but we're going to make it stick. You know all of them don't want to make war against you. We just have to make sure their voices are the ones that carry the day with their people then we can keep the Klingons from helping them."

Tyree looked reluctant, his instincts telling him not to trust the situation, but the call to keep more of his people from being killed was too alluring. He looked to the frightened girl and asked, "How did they want to make peace?"

"She said you could send a messenger to let them know where we could meet to discuss stopping the fighting."

"They may just kill a messenger."

"The stranger told me that anyone we sent would be protected."

One of Tyree's guards suggested, "She may be lying. Telling her one thing, but planning something differently."

Freddie spoke up, "It's a possibility. They may want to take the opportunity to kill you and leave your people leaderless, but if you set the meeting place, you'll be in the position of strength to repel any ambush… I will make sure they won't succeed in any ambush."

"Will you provide men to make sure they honor a truce for a meeting?"

The young starship captain slightly nodded and answered in a reluctant tone, "If it becomes necessary, but we have… other methods to make sure."

Tyree looked uncertain to Freddie and stated, "You're asking me to trust your word."

"Yes I am, but you can be assured that I want the same thing you want."

Tyree squared his jaw then looked to one of his trusted lieutenants. "Go to the village and tell them we will meet them by the river where the forest ends by the hills by the mid-day sun."

He looked somewhat apprehensive, but nodded his obedience. He handed off his flintlock rifle to one of his compatriots, not willing to risk the villagers getting their hands on one of the captured rifles. He picked up walking to the village.

Tyree watched the skilled hunter, the apprehension weighing heavily on his shoulders in wondering if he had just sent his friend to his death.

Freddie reached for his communicator and flipped it open, hearing the chirps of it activating. "Benson to Tori."

A moment later, the familiar voice of the chief navigator replied, "Harris here."

"There is a native heading away from me towards the village. I want you to monitor his life signs and be able to snatch him up on a moment's notice if there is a deviation."

There was a pause on the other end, perhaps hesitant that he had just received an order that potentially violated the Prime Directive, but Harris answered, "Understood sir."

Tyree gave a wide-eyed expression to Freddie at seeing him talking to the small box and receiving a response.

The captain quickly explained to prevent him from becoming too startled with the demonstration of advance technology, "I'm just making sure they hold up their word about your messenger having safe passage."

He turned back to his communicator and called out again, "Benson to Vega… Trina."

A few moments later, the communicator came to life again and Trina's voice answered in a hushed tone, "Vega here."

"We found the young woman they released and Tyree is sending a messenger to reply to the offer. Good job."

" _Thank you sir."_

"I just want to make sure the messenger will be able to safely deliver his message and leave."

" _We'll make sure of it sir."_

"Good. I'll speak to you later, Benson out."

Freddie closed the communicator and Tyree gave him an inquisitive while the young girl looked astonished.

The native leader questioned, "You can talk to people far away?"

The starship captain nodded his head and sighed, revealing another piece of their technology to them, "Yes we can… and one day your people will discover the knowledge on your own. I'm making sure that no harm comes to your friend."

"It sounded like you have someone in the village."

"Yes… we… have someone there that is influencing them."

"Are the strangers really your people?"

Freddie thought for a moment, debating whether he should share the details of his plan as Tyree was clearly an intuitive leader. He made his decision and answered, "Yes. They're pretending to be Klingons and pushing him to make peace. We're not going to let the Klingons here anymore, so…"

"So you're using deception?"

"If it means saving your people, then yes."

Tyree raised a challenging eyebrow and answered, "It means you could be deceiving me."

Freddie maintained eye contact with the native for several moments before answered in a calm, deliberate purpose, "I could, but to what purpose? I want you to have peace with your neighbors. If I wanted to take over, I could take over both your people. If I wanted to strip your land of wealth, wealth you're not even aware of existing, then I could do it without any real trouble from you. Anything I want, I could take without any deception, but I'm not because this is your planet and we don't have a right take anything from it."

Tyree studied the young Star Fleet officer, weighing the logic of his words. If they wanted any of those things, they could simply take them like the Villagers and there would be nothing to stop them.

He also studied the young man's eyes, seeing that intangible quality that he saw in his friend Kirk that led him to want to trust his words. He genuinely believed people were good and before the Klingons came, there was no real conflict and one could trust the good intentions of people.

He eventually nodded then looked to one of his subordinates to order, "Take her back to the village. The rest of us will go to the hills by the river and meet the Villagers."

The younger hunter obeyed his order and led the girl back down the path back to their settlement. The other Hill people readily agreed and followed their leader to the set meeting place.

The Village

The blonde trusted hunter cautiously approached the edge of the village, keeping his eyes out for any potential ambush. He was immediately noticed by a number of people as they went about their respective business, cautiously eyeing him in return and whispering to one another.

He was soon met by two young men, one wearing a neatly trimmed mustache, and both clearly members of the raiding party against his people by each confidently carrying a flintlock. He met each of their eyes, not showing an ounce of concern that they were in the superior position with their weapons.

He looked to the one wearing the mustache and addressed him, "Your people released one of our women with a message that you wanted to make peace with us. I'm the messenger sent to answer you."

The villager looked him up and down, appearing to debate whether or not to accept his words or take him prisoner. He apparently was informed of the situation and nodded his head back and instructed him, "This way."

The flintlock carrying man turned and led the member of the Hill people.

The blonde followed in step with him, glancing around to get a clear assessment of the village. The permanent structures were a little odd for him, not understanding why someone would want to stay in one place instead of having the freedom to travel as one pleased. It was a gulf between their people, one that couldn't be attempted to be crossed until they could make peace.

After about fifty yards of traveling through the village, they stopped in front of the two story house and the lead villager motioned with a hand towards the door. "This way."

The blonde Hills-man followed him up the stairs until they stopped on the second floor and the villager knocked once.

The door opened and the blonde was lead inside, his attention immediately was drawn to the young women fitting the description given by the girl of his tribe.

Apella stood up from the table and approached the messenger. He offered a friendly with a hint of deviousness in his smile and greeted him, "I see it didn't take long for Tyree to respond to my offer… He must realize how pointless it is to keep fighting."

Tori narrowed her gaze upon the native leader as if warning him not to be too confrontational.

The hunter ignored the jib, confident in his fellow tribesmen's ability to eventually defeat the Villagers despite their advance weapons and simply answered, "You're the one offering to make peace; I'm here to tell you where we can meet to discuss it."

The dark haired leader looked over hunter then spared a glance over to the imposter Klingons.

Tori put on her best glare, remembering all the times Jade had gotten under her skin in high school as inspiration. The expression was apparently convincing enough to urge Apella to focus back on their emissary.

"Yes. Where would you like to meet? We have many things to discuss."

"I've been told to tell you that we will meet you by the river by the hills where the forest ends at the mid-day sun."

Apella remained quiet for a few moments then asked, "I assume that you won't attempt to ambush us for such a meeting?"

"We're the ones with honor. It is you that we're concerned will attempt to use this meeting to attack us. You're the ones that have no honor and can't be trusted to keep your word."

The Village leader with aspirations of being a planetary governor was about to snap off a reply, but Tori interrupted him, "You won't have to worry about any ambush. Apella genuinely wants to make peace with your people. There has been… too much bloodshed and things cannot continue as they are going."

The hunter looked to the lovely science officer in disguise then to the security officer, noticing their resemblance and that they clearly were in charge. He was mildly surprised that Apella would follow any instruction from a woman with his understanding that the women of the villagers had little to no voice in their society. He realized that they must have been the other people from the stars and considerable power behind them—being from the stars—for Apella to listen to their instructions.

Apella had to stifle an angry expression, not pleased with how his benefactor had to verbally step into him trying to maintain control of the conversation. He continued with a forced casualness, "Yes, she is quite right. This will be a peaceful meeting. You have nothing to fear from us."

The blonde hunter looked dubious to him, but accepted him at his word for the moment. "Then it's agreed we will meet by the mid-day sun."

"Yes, tell Tyree I will be there." He motioned his left hand towards the door. "Make sure our visitor is safely escorted out of the village and back on his way to his people."

The guards dutifully obeyed even if they prefer to enslave or just outright kill the Hillsman so they wouldn't have to face him in possible battle in the future.

The hunter maintained a cautious gaze to Apella for a few moments before being escorted out of the room to leave the village.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Apella looked to Tori with a displeased expression, still stung by her speaking in his mind out of turn and making it appear that he wasn't in charge.

Trina was quick to speak up, perhaps not entirely confident Tori would have the words or set the tone to reinforce their power over the situation, "Gather a few men to escort you to the meeting place, but not too many. Bring just enough for reasonable protection. We'll make sure that the Hill people don't use the meeting to capture or kill you."

The instruction only appeared to annoy the village leader with the withering gaze he directed at the undercover Star Fleet officers.

Trina dismissively snorted out and glanced to her sister. "He wants to be a Klingon governor, but doesn't want to follow instructions?"

Tori was interrupted in saying anything with Apella commenting with a low hiss, "I didn't realize I was yours to command."

Tori jumped back into the conversation, putting on a surprisingly fierce expression to show that she was perhaps offended by his comment, "You are ours to advise to make you capable of being a governor of the Empire the same as I was trained to command in my Emperor's Fleet. We have to be able to obey if we wish to command."

The dark haired leader narrowed his eyes, weighing the woman's words. She was certainly different than the other Klingon commander. She was blunt and had no patience in stroking his ego. Perhaps she was more useful in learning how to be a Klingon and the power that came with being one of them. He would bite his tongue and learn from them the ways of true power… even if they were women.

* * *

About an hour later, Tyree with several of his men and the Star Fleet personnel arrived at an open field several kilometers away from the village with hills behind them, a lightly wooded forest in front of them and the river to their left.

Tyree had no reason to trust the Village people at their word of having a peaceful meeting, expecting that they would use the opportunity to attack them, so he gathered a number of his men in the hills to attack and cover a retreat if it became necessary.

The position offered them the advantage of being able to see the Villagers if they came down the pathway or out of the forest or try to circle around the hills.

Freddie didn't bother attempting to persuade him otherwise because it was a prudent move and he couldn't exactly count on Tori and Trina being able to completely control the actions of the Villagers.

The pair of leaders stood quietly side by side, each trying to play out the meeting in his respective head. Tyree had a rudimentary understanding of how such a negotiation could play out as the people of the Hills had no need for such cutthroat political intrigue, but Freddie was more than capable from the training and experience to be a starship captain.

Tyree softly asked, the concern for how this meeting would play out, "Do you believe we can be successful? That we can end the fighting?"

"Yes, but I think it depends if you've had enough vengeance. Has enough blood been spilled to avenge your wife?"

The platinum blonde steeled his jaw, the question stinging his chest. He took several slow breaths then answered, "I don't know, but… I can't let my vengeance set the fate for my people."

Freddie nodded along, relieved that was one factor that wouldn't possibly wreck the tense negotiations.

Several minutes later, they spotted Apella cautiously approaching with a number of his men armed with the flintlock rifles and two distinctively dressed Klingon officers.

Tyree tensed at seeing that Apella had brought an armed party, but remained confident enough that he had enough men along with Captain Benson and his security men would be enough to win any battled.

The people of the Village stopped half a dozen meters in front of Tyree and Captain Benson, looking tense except for Apella and the undercover Star Fleet officers.

Tyree called out, "You came armed?"

"And you don't? As much as your messenger told us that you were willing to peacefully meet with us, I couldn't risk that you simply didn't lie to him or he was lying to me. You may wish to ambush us, so I wasn't coming here without protection."

Tyree held his tongue and stayed his hand from reaching for his knife. He wished to cut the man's tongue out, something he thought he couldn't even imagine before the Villagers started attacking his people, but now almost became second nature.

Apella looked to Freddie and asked, "Who are you? You're not of the Hill people."

"I am Fredrick Benson. I come from a very distance place and I'm here to make sure that there is a peaceful resolution between your people and the Hill people."

The leader of the Village people passed several glances over him and to the Star Fleet personal several yards away behind them and clearly armed with advance weapons. He glanced over to Tori and Trina then idly commented, "Yes… I was informed that such people might want to help the Hill people."

Tori and Freddie exchanged glances, keeping up appearances of having a tense relationship.

Tyree looked upon the sisters as well, feeling a seething hatred for what the represented in bringing such pain to his people even if Benson had told him they were really of his people pretending to be the ones that helped Apella. He focused back on Apella and continued, "We have much to discuss."

"You are right Tyree. There has been much bloodshed between our people—"

"Yes there has… too much…"

"I believe that it is time that we stop and make peace with one another."

One of Tyree's companions spat out, "Why? Not finding it so easy to hunt us anymore?"

Tyree passed as sharp glance to his trusted lieutenant. He may have agreed with the sentiment, but they didn't need the tension to rise while trying to talk peace.

Apella showing surprised shrewdness in not taking the bait with enflaming tensions. He calmly responded, "Let's say that some of my men… decided they weren't content to just hunt and farm… they thought it was easier to simply take what they wanted from you."

The hunter calmly answered despite the smoldering fire behind his eyes, "Yes I can see it would be easy when given weapons by people from the stars."

Apella clenched his jaw at his secret being revealed. He glanced over to Freddie, presuming he was the member of the 'Federation' the Klingon commander mentioned with his odd clothing and presumably some kind of weapon hanging on his right thigh similar to the Klingons.

Tyree pushed the point as the anger bubbled up from within his gut. "Oh yes, I know where you got your weapons from and I know you will not get any more of them. You don't have enough of those weapons for all of your men."

Apella defiantly responded with confident smirk, "How do you know that we won't make more? Enough to arm every one of my men and crush you."

The tribesman wasn't sure that his enemy couldn't make more of those weapons in simply copying them as a child learned how to make a proper bow from examining an elder's bow and being taught by an experienced maker. However, he couldn't let such a possibility detour him from attempting to end the bloodshed before they all drowned in it.

"Perhaps you could… but not before we would defeat you… stalking you one by one as we do our prey."

The potential warlord stared down his opposite, seeing him for the first time as a true adversary for taking control of the planet.

"But fortunately for both our people, you have to accept peace… since the ones from the stars told you to."

The Village leader's annoyance turned into one of surprise.

"Yes, the girl you released told us not only of you wanting this meeting, but of the visitors telling you to have this meeting." He looked over to Tori and added, "I assume you're the one from the stars?"

Tori turned a concern gaze to Freddie and asked, "You told them the truth? I'm just surprised that a Star Fleet officer would openly flaunt your precious 'Prime Directive'."

Freddie returned the smile, intending to play his role well, and answered, "As if you're one to lecture me with revealing what you are to them, but I'm actually carrying it out in correcting the damage _your_ government has caused to a world within our treaty bounds. They need to work out their differences without undo influence on either of our parts… which apparently someone in your government came to the same conclusion. Neither side can have this escalate into a more serious problem."

The lovely science officer wore a perturbed expression, trying to convey to the rest of them she wasn't happy with the situation.

Freddie looked to Apella and continued, "Yes, we're from the stars too, but unlike the Klingons, we don't want to enslave you and take your world. We want you to live in peace and we're here to fix their meddling. We won't allow them to give you anymore weapons. You have a choice to make peace with the people of the Hills—which clearly your Klingon handlers are urging you to do—or you can continue a fight where you are becoming more disadvantaged by the day."

Apella's confident façade slipped, showing he didn't like being reminded that for the most part he was being manipulated by others instead of being the leader he wished in being respected and feared.

Tyree distracted him from his anger by speaking up in a firm, unyielding voice with a steel glint in his eyes, "But if we are to have peace then you have to stop encroaching on our land, killing my people and stealing from us. We want all that you've taken from us back, especially our women."

Apella looked as if he was willing to accept nearly all those terms with the assurances from the Klingons, perhaps confident that he would regain all if it back anyway with the continued, if quiet Klingon support until the last request. His expression showed his uncomfortableness with the demand. He fumbled for his words for a moment, not willing to apparently voice his real objection to it and answered, "I may not be able to do that. They've… grown accustomed to our ways… they're new lives."

The platinum blonde leader's face turned stony and replied, "Grown accustomed to being your property you mean? No, we will not accept any less then their complete return."

Tori slightly leaned over to Apella and instructed him in a low tone, "You will give them back all the women you took from them."

Apella visibly frowned, not bothering to hide his disapproval to agreeing to such a thing. He whispered back, hoping the others wouldn't hear, "I just can't give them back. The men that have them wouldn't accept it and turn on me."

"They will not agree to anything without their return…" She looked to Freddie from the corner of her eye as she added, "The Federation will not tolerate such a thing. They will… tell others that the Empire approves of such acts… we will not let our… _reputation_ be stained by such an accusation."

Tori had no idea if that was true or not in regards to the Empire. They conquered those weaker than they to steal resources and turn the people into third and second class citizens, but there hadn't been any concrete proof either way that they tolerated their military to do such acts against native populations.

She added in hopes of persuading him that it was the most prudent choice to advance his long-term goal, "We'll make sure to put down any movement against you if they disagree. We can't let their shortsightedness stop us from reaching _our_ goal."

The Village leader visibly grumbled, but once again accepted her logic and power behind it. He forced a smile and replied to Tyree, "Very well, I will speak to them and make sure they are returned to you, but it may take a little time… some may not want to come back."

Tyree took a step forward, making Apella's guards nervous that caused the others to tense up readying for a fight. "You will return all of them or there will be no peace and no people from the stars will stop us from getting them back."

Apella met the stare, feeling more anger bubbling up inside from being dictated to by some nomad who could barely make fire.

Tori passed a worrying glance between the Villager and her Captain, ready to say something, but Freddie slightly shook his head to wave her off. The next few moments would have to be decided between them.

"Don't threaten me Tyree—"

"It's no threat. You know what we're capable of doing… and willing to do."

The pair went into a staring contest, seeing which one would give first and if it meant bloodshed right then and there.

Tori passed a look to Freddie, letting a bit of worry appear on her face that the situation could spin out of control at a moment's notice.

The starship captain held his confident gaze, willing to let things play out. He couldn't tell Tyree to give a little, to leave some room for negotiation when there wasn't any for them for practical reasons as well as moral grounds. The Federation would never accept such conditions with their citizens.

Apella final spoke after the long staring contest, "Very well… it will take some time to gather them up and return them to you, but as for the rest… that will take far longer to return things, if they can be returned."

Tyree fought to keep a smile off his face, pleased that he finally had the advantage. He thought Apella was stalling about giving back property stolen from them, but as he thought on it, as long as he got the women back and some guarantee that there would be no more encroachment, he was willing to let them keep the rest. He passed a glance to Freddie, wondering his thoughts on the agreement.

Freddie read Tyree's expression and gave a slight nod of his head in approval.

Tyree looked back to Apella and replied, "I expect all our women back before sundown. As for the rest… we have time for you to return all you stole."

Apella certainly didn't like being dictated to, but he accepted the conditions.

USS Tori

Lieutenant Commander Harris anxiously sat in the command seat, waiting to hear word from either landing party. He had several crewmen glued to the various sensor displays to keep an eye on them, the transporter rooms constantly manned to snatch them and a squad of marines standing by to go get them if for some reason they couldn't beam them up.

The tension on the bridge finally sparked when one of the junior science officers at the science station looked over his shoulder and informed the chief navigator, "Sir, I'm picking up Klingon vessel at the edge of sensor range approaching at Warp Five."

"Helm, tighten our orbit and get us on the far side. Let's try to stay out of their sensors as long as we can."

Rex half jokingly asked, "I thought we were supposed to drive them away?"

"We're going to, but catch them from behind."

He glanced over his right shoulder and called out, "Cat, sound Yellow Alert."

"Aye, aye," the redhead eagerly set about tapping her controls to sound the alert status.

Throughout the ship, the on-duty crew began turning on various backup systems for standby, extra security started deploying throughout key areas of the ship and off-duty personal began making their way to various support positions.

The starship's velocity increased in rounding the planet, putting it between the ship and incoming Klingon vessel, hoping to catch them unaware.

* * *

On the planet below them, Apella led Tori and Trina into the two story home and up the stairs after the walk back from the meeting. He grabbed the door handle and turned, eager to get inside and vent his anger at the pair, but was immediately stopped just past the threshold when he spotted one of his trusted lieutenant standing with three male Klingons.

The sisters stopped just as quickly, but kept their composer. They each spared a glance to the new arrivals then turned their full attention to whom they believed was the leader of the group.

Apella's eyes went wide and quickly asked, "Krell, what are you doing here?"

The imposing Klingon demanded, "The better question is: 'Who are they?'"

Tori rallied her wits, mentally preparing herself for the next few minutes that would sell her role even to a Klingon officer. She straightened her posture and proudly answered, "I'm Commander K'Tori, who are you?"

"I'm Commander Krell. What are you doing here? Where are you from?"

Tori took a deep breath, psyching herself up to challenge the Klingon then answered with a curt tone, "Ah yes, Commander Krell… I'm cleaning up the mess you left. You couldn't handle a simple weapons drop off and now the Federation knows about our interference. They've already meet with the Hill People and pushed for both sides to make peace. They guaranteed they wouldn't allow us to assist the Villagers anymore. We're fortunate it's enough for them and they're not going to take this to the Organians."

Krell squared his jaw, not liking his failure to be thrown up in his face. He crossed his arms over his chest, clearly taking her words as offense. He restrained his anger a bit and replied, "I was not informed of any change."

"Why would they let the one that failed so miserably know there was a plan to correct your mistake? You should consider it merciful that you just weren't executed for your failure or worst: they handed you over to the Federation and put all the blame on you to keep the peace."

The well-built Klingon clenched his jaw and looked at the impersonating Klingons. He quickly asked, wanting to know about the interlopers, "What ship did you come from? We didn't detect any as we approached the system."

"You don't need to know that. All you need to know is that you should return to your ship and leave before Star Fleet discovers it. We don't need a border violation they can add to a complaint."

"I don't take orders from you."

Tori straighten up, feeling a sense of confidence as he pushed back. "No, you don't, but I would think you would have good judgment. They know we helped them. They stepped up their patrols and we were barely able to get here." She was on the verge of rambling, throwing every possible explanation at him as possible.

Krell studied the young females, trying to gauge if they were telling the truth. In order to buy time to get a handle on the unexpected development, he spat out, "I'm going to confirm your story—"

Tori was quick to respond, "How? Who are you going to check with that would give you an honest answer? No one is going to say they sanctioned your mission, least long confirm they're trying to cover it up."

He was about to reply when a soft ping started sounding from one of his subordinates. He looked to him as the younger officer pulled out his communicator. He looked down at it, apparently reading a text message then looked to Krell.

"A Federation starship just rounded the planet and has locked weapons on the Devoted. They're ordering to immediately leave Federation space."

Krell clenched his jaw and looked to Tori and Trina. "It would appear that you're correct. The Federation has involved itself…" He looked back to subordinate then ordered, "Inform them we have five to beam up."

Tori blinked, wondering why he said five when there were only three Klingons, but Trina was fortunately faster on her feet and interrupted, "We're not going with you."

The Klingon commander knotted his brow and asked, "Why? You can't stay here for Star Fleet to find you."

"They already know we're here and accept us cleaning this mess up, but you… you might have just ruined everything. Beam up and obey their order before they decide to escalate this and just go to the Organians."

The Klingon directed a cold stare to Tori and questioned in a low tone, "You're telling me to obey the orders of a Federation ship?"

"I'm reminding you of your duty to the Empire and one of those duties is clearly not handing your enemy the advantage. What other choice do you have? Fire on a Star Fleet vessel in Federation space?"

Krell holds his stare for a few moments then repeats the order, "Devoted, five to beam up."

Tori was about to counter the order again, but Trina was faster and simply pulled out her mocked up disruptor towards Krell. She followed up, "We're not going with you."

The subordinate Klingons reached for disruptors, but a look in Trina's eyes told them not to draw them.

Krell spat out, "You're drawing a weapon on us?"

Tori settled her nerves with a few breaths then replied, "We are not going with you and jeopardize our mission… or try to use us as scapegoats for your failed scheme."

"Scapegoats?" the Klingon knotted his brow as the phrase was unfamiliar to him.

The brunette's pursed her lips and eyes went wide, feeling as if she had been caught.

Krell spotted the change in confidence and quickly accused, "You're not Klingons… who are you? Federation spies?"

His accusation wasn't as audacious as one might believe since the Klingons routinely sent spies to the Federation impersonating humans, hopefully unaware to the Federation.

"Spies?" Tori laughed, a little forcefully, but enough to cover her dismissal of the idea. "How can we be Federation spies in Federation space?"

Trina followed-up, "Stop stalling before they decide to fire on your ship."

He gently mocked with a slight smirk, "I think you're a human pretending to be one of us. You're just trying sway them back to your sphere of influence."

Tori stood up straighter and confidently answered, since it was the truth, "My species is Klingon."

Krell drew a short dagger, causing Trina to turn her distruptor on him. He showed no fear as he held it towards Tori. "If you're really Klingon, prove it."

Tori took the blade from Krell, studying it for a moment of the craftsmanship as a cover to prepare herself for having to cut her skin. She knew she only had to cut enough to bleed and she wouldn't have to worry about any scarring, but that didn't mean it wouldn't hurt.

She pricked the pad of her finger and pressed on it until she broke the skin. She pressed under the fingertip to push out a drop of the pinkish purple blood, forcing out a dribble and run down her finger.

Krell looked surprised with a knotted brow that her blood was Klingon blood. He remained silent for a moment, not wanting to embarrass himself further in front of his subordinates or Apella, but he knew he had to salvage the situation. He looked to Trina, still holding her disruptor on them, and stated, "Her turn."

Tori was quick to dismiss the idea, "No. We're Klingons and I've humored you enough. Now go."

As they had been testing their wills, one of Krell's subordinates had carefully opened his tricorder and did a quick scan of the room. It wasn't as accurate as a medical tricorder or a Federation standard one, but was useful enough to scan the immediate room. He spoke up to Krell, "She Klingon, but the other one is human."

Krell turned a cold stare to Tori and the brunette held a steady gaze despite the nervousness rising in her stomach. "So one of you is a spy?"

"No, he's just a liar."

The Klingon with the tricorder turned a dark glare onto Tori, clearly angered over her accusation.

Krell responded in a cool tone, "You're either a fool for letting her infiltrate your ship or you're a traitor, either way, you're coming with me to find out the truth."

"We're not going anywhere with you."

The Klingon subordinate not holding the tricorder finally pulled his distruptor, but Trina was far quicker in aiming her weapon at him and fired, striking him in the chest and sending him tumbling backwards.

Apella dropped to the ground, ducking under a table while Krell reached out and grabbed Tori by the elbow, yanking her close to him to use her as a shield while pulling out his communicator with his other hand.

Trina trained her weapon on the other Klingon as he was drawing his weapon and she dropped him just as quickly. She turned her weapon unto Krell, ready to fire and stun both to save her sister, but just as she was pulling the trigger, the reddish transporter beam swirled about them and they disappeared along with the fallen Klingons.

Trina looked horrified for a moment then reached behind her back and grabbed her communicator. She flipped it open and shouted, "Vega to Captain, the Klingons showed up. They've snatched Tori and beamed back to their ship."

Freddie answered moments later, "Standby for transport."

"Aye sir," she answered then closed her communicator. A few seconds passed for Benson to pass along the order to the Tori before she was swept up in the gold transporter beam and disappeared from the planet's surface.

Transporter Room  
USS Tori

Trina finished materializing on the pad seconds later. She saw from the corner of her left eye that Freddie had beamed up with her and presumably Robbie and Jade to the left and behind her.

The captain stepped off the transporter pad and rushed out the door, not bothering to take off his field jacket or utility belt/holster. Trina was right behind him with the others quickly followed behind him out of the room and down the corridor to the nearest turbolift.

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed this update. Hope to have another one for you soon.


	4. Chapter 4

Another chapter in the adventures of the starship Tori.

Fanfic-Reader-88: Long time, no speak. Yeah, things have really gotten from bad to worst.

Invader Johnny: Time is of the essence. These are TOS Klingons that will put you in a mind-sifter to rip secrets from one's mind and could leave them a vegetable.

Rating: T Violence

* * *

Chapter 4

Bridge  
USS Tori

The red turbolift doors parted and Freddie was the first to step onto the bridge.

A voice called out, "Captain on the bridge!"

"Battle Stations!" he barked as he walked around the red guardrail and took the step down to the bridge center then another step to stand in front of his command chair after André relinquished the seat and took his place at the navigation station.

Rex pressed the necessary controls to signal the various stations of the alert status then the button to shipwide communication to call out, "General Quarters! General Quarters! All hands to battle stations! All hands to battle stations! This is no drill! Repeat, this is no drill!"

The red klaxons started flashing and sounding throughout the ship and the bridge crew snapped into action with their full attention on their stations. Robbie walked around the back of the bridge to his station with Trina behind him to take her defense station at the end of the ring next to the main viewscreen. Jade took a position next to the left of the captain's seat right by the armrest. She should have gone down to sickbay, but her staff was well trained to function without her and knew that she shouldn't tie up the lift. On a personal note, she felt she needed to next to the captain for moral support.

Throughout the ship, backup and auxiliary systems were coming online with secondary fusion reactors powering up. The tertiary duty personnel were roused from sleep or what other activities they were currently involved to rush to join the second shift since André had ordered Yellow Alert at their stations in the secondary bridge, auxiliary control and engineering. Secondary damage control parties were taking their positions throughout the ship and the rest of the marines not on duty were spilling out of their barracks, most already in combat gear, and rushing to key positions throughout the ship to join Star Fleet security in preparation to repel boarders and cargo transporters for quick boarding actions. Secondary phaser crews were joining the current duty shift in the phaser control rooms while the ordnance crews were monitoring the loading of photon torpedoes. In sickbay, the staff was preparing to receive wounded.

A few moments later as if on cue, the turbolift doors opened and two marines stepped onto the bridge with each one taking his position next to the exit. The first one was recognizably Carter, having recovered from his near death experience, dressed in fatigues and grey full combat armor while the other was wearing a standard duty uniform with green shirt and landing party field jacket with the green division strips going over his shoulders and collarbone. The one in the standard uniform had a bit of messy hair in front, soft brown eyes and looked to be the same age as the captain with similar build and height.

Freddie took his seat and asked in a clipped tone while watching the stars streak by and the rear of the Klingon vessel they were pursuing, "Report."

Rex called out while looking into the raised tactical display, "We're in pursuit of the Klingon vessel and she's twenty light seconds ahead of us at warp six and accelerating."

Jade rested her right hand on the left armrest of the command chair, darted her eyes to Freddie and asked in a worried tone, "While still inside the system?"

The doctor was raising the concern he felt. Star systems were big and in plenty of instances even impulse drive was considered too slow to cover certain distances even at fractions of the speed of light, so low warp speed travel up to warp three was acceptable. However, one would have to be a fool or desperate to engage higher warp speeds within a system and some systems would simply fire on a vessel if they came into it at those speeds.

Rex answered while maintaining his focus on the tactical scope, "They're moving above the elliptical to clear the system faster."

The captain ordered, "Don't let them get away Powers. Take us to any speed necessary to maintain pursuit."

"Aye sir… passing warp six point five," he answered with a quick glance down at his panel.

Freddie pressed the communication button on the right armrest to engineering. "Sinjin, we may have to push the engines."

"She'll give you all she's got and more sir," the frizzy haired engineer answered.

Rex reported as his eyes were practically glued to the tactical hood, "We've just cleared the system and she's reaching warp seven."

"Go to any warp necessary to overtake. Phaser crews standby for precision firing. I need you to punch through their shields and bring her out of warp, not destroy her. Shapiro, find Vega on there."

Robbie had his back to the captain and nodded his head to the side and remarked, "That's going to be a little tricky trying to find her on a ship full of ethnic Klingons."

Jade quickly suggested passed Freddie, "Tie in the life science sensors and cross reference the DNA sample we have on file for identification."

The science officer nodded his head, not bothering with getting a confirmation from the captain since it was a great idea.

Freddie slightly tilted his head and half smirked to Jade.

Jade returned with her own smile and shrugged a shoulder.

Rex called out, "She's past warp seven point five and still accelerating."

Freddie stared at the viewscreen as if he could will the ship in front of them to slow down. He briskly ordered, "Stay with her helm. If they're faster than us, they'll going to have to prove it."

André commented with a sliver of worry in his voice, "Firing on them at that speed sir…"

The captain sighed out, understanding and agreeing with the concern. Firing traveling that fast was just as likely to cause a catastrophic reactor failure just as much as bringing them out of warp if one could punch through the shields. He called out over his shoulder, "Valentine, hail the Klingon ship."

The Caitian tapped a few controls then patiently waited for a response. She slightly turned in her seat and reported, "They're not responding sir."

"Keep the channel open."

"Aye sir."

Freddie coldly stared at the ship and began, "Klingon vessel, you have kidnapped a Star Fleet crewman. You are ordered to heave to and return our crewmember immediately. I am prepared to use force to get her back."

He waited several seconds for a reply.

Cat dishearteningly answered, "No response sir, but they're sending a signal out in front of them."

"A calling for help?"

"I don't know, it's scrambled. I'll need a few minutes at least to break the code if I can."

Freddie nodded in understanding and Rex quickly added, "She's hit warp eight."

He clenched his jaw then ordered, "Project their heading. Where are they going? To Klingon space? Outpost?"

André studied his navigational readouts then answered, "Their current heading is taking them to…"

"Where?"

He knotted his brow and answered perplexed with his own response, "They're running down the Neutral Zone towards galactic south."

The former science off slightly frowned, certainly not expecting that action. It would have been far more logical to gun it towards their own space and get immediate support. "Any particular planet, outpost… other Klingon vessels?"

"Nothing that would appear on our sensors," Rex answered while monitoring the warp power. "They've settled at warp eight point five and we're ten light seconds behind them."

"Maintain speed. Navigation, what are the possibly destinations at this head?"

"They could be heading to Sherman's Planet or any number of other disputed planets in that direction, wait… the computer just determined where we're heading on this course: Organia."

Everyone on the bridge turned away from their stations to pass glances towards André.

Jade knotted her brow and asked Freddie, "Why would they be heading for Organia?"

The captain slightly dipped his chin and contemplated the answer. He answered in a quiet voice, "They've got caught by us and now they're trying to run to the 'parents' to get their side of the story heard first and point their fingers at us. They'll probably say we were trying to frame them and have a 'spy' as proof of it."

The doctor's apprehensively asked, "Are they just going to believe them?"

Freddie shook his head and answered, "I don't know."

Trina got up from her station and braced her hands against the guardrail. "You can't let the Organians let the Klingons keep her. They'll want to try her as a spy to humiliate the Federation… they might execute her."

Other than the status beeps and soft communication chatter from other parts of the ship, the bridge became deathly silent. The majority of the crew may not have any deep emotional connection with who had been a temporary crewmember at best, but they could feel sympathy for her predicament with the Klingons.

Freddie took a deep breath then got up from his seat, taking the step down and walking to the end of the navigation console next to André. He rested his hand on the front corner for someplace to rest his hand then answered her with a sympathetic tone, "Lieutenant…"

He was interrupted when André called out, "Captain?!"

Freddie turned and saw a figure slowly materialize from a faint ghostly image to a solidified form of an older gentleman with brushed back dark hair with a wisp of gray and a goatee. He wore a simple garment of a faded short sleeve dull brown tunic that reached nearly to his ankles with an embroidered silver collar and neckline.

He faintly smiled to the crew and introduced himself, "Hello, I am Ayelborne, the Chairman of the Council of Elders of Organia and the Klingons have informed of the situation and why you are pursuing them. They have asked us to mediate the matter."

Freddie politely smiled and answered as he walked around his seat to stand in front of it, "Hello Mister Ayelborne. I'm Captain Fredrick Benson of the USS Tori. I fail to see what there is to mediate. They have kidnapped one of my crewmembers and I want her back. There is nothing to discuss."

"They see it differently captain and thus, the need for an independent mediator."

"I'm sure they do…"

"We would prefer that you handle your affairs with each other, but… if it has fallen on us then we will help you."

Freddie squared his jaw, fighting down the annoyance of the non-corporeal lifeform on his bridge. He politely answered, "It'll be about a day before we reach your planet and I am clearly concerned about the welfare of my crewman in the meantime. You're quite well aware of how brutal they can be…" He quickly recalled something from the report Captain Kirk had filed after his experience with the inhabitants. "…how they are willing to use violence against her to get what they want. They have devices to use on the mind that could leave her brain-dead… one they were willing to use on Captain Kirk when he was on your planet before you freed him and they did attempt to murder two hundred of you when they occupied your planet. Unlike you, she's not immortal."

Ayelborne tightened his pleasant expression for the briefest of moments then answered, "We can save you the time and bring your ships directly into orbit of our planet and speak face to face if you wish."

Freddie took a slow breath then answered, "That will be acceptable."

"Very well, I will bring your vessels just outside our system to give you each time to reduce your speed. We'll speak again within one of your hours."

"Or sooner," Freddie made a point.

Ayelborne politely nodded his head, understanding the message then began fading from sight.

Trina' shoulders slumped and she muttered, "What if they side with the Klingons?"

Freddie turned his attention to his security chief and replied with a heavy heart, "Trina, I'll fight the Klingons to get her back as I would for any other member of this crew and… I would fight even the gods, but how do I fight a god that can shut this ship down with a thought if they decide the Klingons are in the right?"

Trina dropped her chin, bracing herself more against the railing and felt a sense of hopelessness that quickly spread through the rest of the bridge. Robbie focused on his station, trying to hide his disheartened expression. The other bridge crew tried to find refuge in their stations to hide their embarrassment.

A voice called out from the turbolift enclave, "If I may suggest sir?"

Freddie turned and looked over his left shoulder along with a number of other bridge crew and Jade taking a half step back to look at the marines standing guard at the turbolift. The one that spoke took a step forward, carbine at the ready to defend the bridge. He was the one wearing the field jacket and green uniform shirt peeking out from his mostly zipped up jacket.

The captain didn't immediately recognize the marine standing about an inch or two taller and slightly more muscular than him, an odd occurrence as he believed he had at least familiar with all the members of the marine detachment. He had light brown hair that was slightly wild in front that slightly hung over into his forehead and was probably not regulation. He did take a quick view at his collar to see his rank and asked with a clear intention of also wanting to know his name, "Yes Gunny…"

The marine smiled and answered in a cheerful voice, "Gunnery Sergeant Dustin 'Dusty' Hale, sir."

Freddie nodded along then asked, "What is your suggestion Gunny?"

He gave a half smirk and slightly cocked his head to the side. "I believe you're asking an incomplete question."

Freddie walked around the navigation console and behind his command seat, resting his forearm over the top of the backrest. He passed a curious gaze to Jade, she wearing a concern expression with a softly knotted brow. He was intrigued by the response and asked, "What question should I be asking?"

"How does a man of faith fight a false god?"

The captain slightly knotted his brow then glanced down, thinking for a few seconds on the crewman's words. The picture of the situation suddenly turned, giving him an entirely new perspective. A smile formed on his face and glanced up to see the sergeant holding back a laugh at seeing the officer's realization. He turned his head and asked, "Valentine, get me the chaplain up here."

"'kay, 'kay," the redhead eagerly responded and started tapping the intra-ship communications.

As soon as he gave the order, the ship gently rocked then settled back to steady cruising at warp.

Freddie glanced around and called out, "Report."

André looked at his monitors and navigational display between the helm and navigation consoles. "We've definitely moved. The stars aren't in the position they would be on a continuing followed course and speed. Recalculating our position."

Robbie quickly called out, "Star system ahead, a quarter of a light-year away."

Rex hastily added, "We'll reach the outer edge of the system in about a minute."

"Helm, reduce speed to warp seven."

"Aye sir. ETA to system five point nine minutes."

"Position of Klingon vessel?"

"She's reduced to warp seven as well and still ahead of us."

"Reduce us to warp two when we reach the edge of the system. Keep an eye on the Klingon ship though and if they try to run, chase them down."

"Yes sir," he answered as he preprogrammed the controls to carry out the order.

The turbolift doors opened and the chaplain, an older gentleman with a touch of gray to his hair in a red uniform shirt with Lt. Commander braids on the end of his sleeves, took a cautious step onto the bridge. He curiously looked around, having never been to the bridge, least long in a battle situation as his place was in sickbay.

Freddie looked to the chaplain and took a step up to the higher ring level, welcoming him with a warm smile, "Chaplain, thank you for coming to the bridge. I need your help and it's an unusual request."

He raised a curious eyebrow, but answered, "Anything I can do to help Captain."

Planet Organia  
Organia Neutral Zone  
Sector 1913

About twenty minutes later, several gold shimmering columns appeared in the meeting room of the council of elders for several moments until they coalesced into Freddie, Jade and Trina. The captain and doctor had kept their landing party attire on and Trina had changed into a duty uniform shirt and pants with her jacket. She had come prepared to get her sister back with the phaser carbine in her hands.

They immediately were met by the Organian Council of Elders seated behind a well-made wooden long table and standing to the left, three Klingons and Tori with her hands cuffed in front. The one standing in front was clearly the commander of the vessel and presumably the one shuffling weapons to the villagers and the others stood on either side of Tori.

Captain Benson looked squarely at the leader of the group of Organians and introduced himself with a stern voice, "As we've spoken earlier, but for the benefit of the Klingon representatives, I am Captain Fredrick Benson of the USS Tori."

The Klingon standing in front of the others proudly announced himself, "I am Commander Krell."

Freddie professionally acknowledged his counterpart, "Commander."

Ayelborne stood up from his center seat on the opposite side of the table and walked around two of his fellow elders sitting to his right to meet Freddie on the other side. "Welcome Captain. We understand that there is a disagreement that needs resolution through mediation."

"As I said on my ship, we don't need mediation. They've kidnapped one my crewmembers and I want her back. It's a straightforward solution: give her back to us."

Krell took a step forward and countered, "She's in our rightful custody. She is a spy and you are using her as an attempt to malign our reputation with other species and endangering the peace."

Trina began to snap, "She's not a spy—"

"Why is she wearing one of our uniforms?" Krell looked to Ayelborne and continued, "They used her in an attempt to frame us with interfering with a native culture—by supplying them with primitive weapons—when we were there for legitimate scientific research. She is the proof of it in her uniform… and being a Klingon. She's probably a fugitive that fled the Empire and they gave her sanctuary in exchange for being one if their agents or maybe she's an outright traitor—we haven't been able to determine that yet—and if so, they have no claim to her. It is an internal Klingon affair."

"No she isn't. She's my sister," Trina sharply retorted, giving a cold stare to the Klingon commander.

The Organians turned curious gazes to the security officer. The claim gave the Klingons pause, passing glances to each other while Krell studied the woman he met as a Klingon officer. One of the other members curiously asked, "Your sister?"

"Yes, my sister," Trina defiantly told the practical gods. "We were trying to get the weapons back that Klingons gave one group of natives and help us facilitate a restoration of the peace they destroyed in the hopes of turning the planet into one of their puppet governments. She did not try to infiltrate your ranks at any time."

Trefayne, an equally elderly looking man with blonde, fading into white hair commented, "But you are not Klingon."

Trina proudly announced, "I'm Centaurean and I don't care that she's Klingon. She's my sister and they're giving her back to us." She visibly flicked her thumb off the safety to the weapon in her hands.

The Klingons shifted their posture, ready to draw their weapons in an instant. Krell looked to the Organian leader and pushed, "That's a pathetic lie on their part. They have no proof for their wild accusation. If they did, they would have come to you to resolve the situation."

Freddie snapped a cold gaze to the Klingon and answered, "We have the word of Captain Kirk watching you give the weapons to them including talking about improvements and the logs of the Enterprise of a Klingon vessel in orbit." He added with a dismissively snort, "We have no need to come crawling to them as you were so eager to do instead of facing us."

Krell's frown deepened, perhaps ready to strike at the starship captain from the insult.

Ayelborne paused for a moment at the mentioning of Captain Kirk's name.

Freddie turned his head and looked back at Ayelborne to continue with a cold voice, "If you want more proof, ask Tyree, a native. He lost his wife to the people they gave weapons to and there have been plenty of others that have had their property stolen, women kidnapped and raped and been murdered. We're just trying to clean up the mess they started by giving them firearms."

The other Organians started whispering among themselves, weighing each side's words.

Ayelborne glanced over to his fellow councilmen, assessing their views with only a glance. He turned back to them and answered with a patient smile. "I see gentlemen that you are quite passionate and there are many things to weigh in this dispute where we believe further discussion is in order and visiting Neural to confirm one side or the other's position."

Krell smiled, believing he could paint a picture of a conniving Federation setting about framing one of their neighbors and putting all the blame on them for the tragedies.

Freddie squared his jaw, took a deep breath then answered, "No."

The elder looking gentleman slightly tilted his head and curiously asked, "Pardon?"

The starship captain shook his head and casually replied, "I said no." He let that sink in a moment then continued, "There is nothing more to discuss. No extensive negotiations that could drag out for who knows how long. The Federation didn't ask for your input on the matter of Neural—a world in our treaty zone—or a matter of one of my crewmembers. The Klingons are not allowed there anymore, we will do our best to clean up the damage they've done and I will have my crewman back right now."

Krell crossed his arms over his chest and mockingly asked, "Is that so Captain? You're in no position to make demands here."

Freddie answered in a surprisingly casually manner, "Actually I am."

He let his statement hang in the air for a moment, staring coldly at the Klingon to see if he would raise or call to use poker analogy.

The commander laughed, either covering up his nervousness or not believing that a Star Fleet officer had the mantle to carry out such a threat, "And how do you propose you are going to do that? They're not going to allow violence here."

"Perhaps not here, but… before we beamed down, I gave my first officer one last order…" He took a moment to look at his digital watch on his left wrist then continued, "…that if he didn't hear from us within the next say… eight minutes, he was to disable your ship to prevent you from taking her back to Klingon space and if they don't hear from us five minutes after that… assume we're dead and to unleash everything they have where we are standing then carry out General Order Twenty Four—the complete destruction of the planet's surface."

He looked to the Organians and coldly asked, "You may be gods, but can you really take the full firepower of a starship?"

The Klingons and Organians looked perplexed at the sheer gall he directed at them then horrified for a moment at such a revelation of him appearing to be telling the truth.

Krell covered his shock with a forced laugh after seeing something in the young man's eyes, "You truly have lost your mind haven't you captain? They're simply going to disable your ship as they did during our brief war and the Federation… they don't wipe out entire planets."

Freddie looked to the Organians and asked, "Then disable my ship. Take their side and let them keep my crewman… take the side of the one that would give weapons to a peaceful people living on their own planet not bothering anyone and encourage them to conqueror their neighbors… steal from their neighbors… to rape their neighbors… Show the universe what you really are then… I'll stop you here and now."

The Organians studied the young captain for several moments, trying to ignore the minor discomfort they felt with his presence in willing to unleash such violence. He had been truthful to Captain Kirk that their presence was disturbing to them with continued exposure. Ayelborne took a deep breath then calmly answered in a grandfather like tone, "Captain, I am truly shocked at your response. I can sympathize with the plight you claim has happened, but I had found it hard to fathom that someone from a people that claim to want peace so much would be willing to use such violence in response. As I asked Captain Kirk, do you have the right to wage war Captain as your actions—if they succeed—could lead to such a war that we prevented and allowed both sides to come to an understanding? A war that would end the lives of millions of innocent people and to destroy life on a planetary scale? Is that what you're willing to commit?"

The Organian believed he had hit a nerve, the same one that struck Kirk when he laid out his argument to him last year. The Klingons made the same assumption that Freddie would just roll over.

They were mistaken.

Freddie took another step towards Ayelborne and defiantly answered, "I'm not James Kirk. I will not be beaten over the head with a pathetic moral equivalency argument that our ideologies have the same merit and that we'd be equally guilty of anything."

He looked to Krell and practically spat out, "We don't kill millions of innocent people. Klingons are willing to commit that act. We don't enslave species, the Klingons do that. We don't destroy life on a planetary scale… the Klingons don't even do that…" He turned to look at the ascended being and made his final verbal push, "…but I do defend the right to wage war to protect our freedom from them wanting to conquer us… and wage war against you if you dare try to make us bend our knees to you."

Ayelborne clenched his jaw, startled by the vitriol directed at him by the lower lifeform. He cleared his throat and sputtered, "We are not gods and never claimed to be."

"But the way you use your power is no different than a power from on high dictating to us down below."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, but if we did nothing you would unleash horrible destruction upon one another—"

"That the Klingons started. They're the ones that broke off negotiations. That's the one little fact that you keep ignoring in this situation. I'd rather we had peace, true genuine peace, but we have a fundamental right to self-defense that you have no right to take from us."

Ayelborne looked tired for a moment, either feeling frustrated or perhaps seeing the captain's point-of-view and not willing to admit it just yet. He took another calming breath, a curious thing for a being that didn't need to breathe, and answered, "Captain… I admire your passion for what you believe is right—"

"It is right," Freddie curtly interrupted him.

"But… we will have to disable your ship to prevent anyone from being killed, including yourself so we can peacefully resolve this situation."

One Organian closed his eyes in concentration and the others watched him. He squeezed his eyes tighter as if he was struggling then quickly opened them, startled. He looked to Ayelborne with a distressed expression and confessed, "His ship is still functioning. I cannot disable it."

Krell and the other Klingons looked just as startled, but the commander was the first to speak, "How?"

Freddie gave a dismissive gaze towards the captain and answered, "It doesn't matter how. I just did it. Now, are you going to give me my crewman back or are we all going to die here?"

Krell shook his head in mild disbelief and uttered, "You don't have the authority… you're out of your mind."

"Of course I do: protecting the life of one of my crew from a hostile power…" He turned a brief glance to Ayelborne. "…hostile powers." He focused back on Krell and pushed on, "You've kidnapped one of my crewmen and I'm affecting a rescue and if these so-called gods want to interfere… then I'll put their name to the test."

Freddie could see the look of panic in Krell's eyes and the supposedly brave Klingon flustered, "Do you know… do you know what will happen if you attempt such a thing?" He motioned to Tori and demanded, "We'll be right where we started before they interfered. You're willing to go to war over her? Willing to plunge our peoples into a war all over her? She's Klingon. She's not one of you."

The Star Fleet captain snorted out a breath, wearing a bit of a smirk and shook his head. "You and these false gods you crawled to keep bring that up about what 'we'll do'. We'll do nothing. Once this is said and done on this planet, if there is a war, you're the ones that will fire the first shot and start the war and for what reason? We won't kneel to you and do you know what?"

Krell wasn't sure about the turn of phrase, but asked anyway, "What?"

"At this moment, I don't care about some high minded ideals about interstellar nations and their problems. About some track of space or this strategic planet or that one. My concern right now is Commander Vega, because she's not going with you. She's one of us and I don't care that she's Klingon, so if you want her that badly, you'll have to fight for her… or we'll be dead in the next few minutes."

Krell stood up straighter and squared his jaw, trying to remain intimidating but had already lost that contest with his stammering. He saw the Organians were apparently useless in stopping the determined starship captain, his plan blowing up in his face, so it was left up to him. He reached behind him in a swift motion and pulled his communicator out. He began speaking in Klingonese and with that act, Freddie drew his phaser from his thigh holster with blinding speed and trained it on Krell as he understood enough Klingon to know that he was ordering.

Everyone else in the room raised or drew their respective weapons to fire on one another, but before anyone could fire their weapons, they let out various cries of pain while dropping their weapons. They instinctively grabbing their hands as their weapons' temperature shot up hundreds of degrees. Fortunately, there was no physical damage to their hands.

However, Freddie kept a tight hold of his phaser even if his hand was shaking from the intense pain and kept a cold stare on Krell.

The Klingons and the Organians stared in astonishment.

He growled out as if feeding off the pain, "Put the communicator down, now."

The Klingon looked on him in wonder and asked, "How are you…"

Freddie growled and turned a hateful glare towards Ayelborne, a being that probably could snap his fingers to sweep him from existence and pushed on, "Making it feel like it's a couple of hundred degrees… hoping the pain will stop me…"

The non-corporeal lifeform shook his head and muttered, "You shouldn't be…"

The starship captain's gaze never left Krell's eyes and growled, "I had to bury my wife… that's pain…"

Jade's eyes went wide and jaw slightly slacked, feeling Freddie's pain in her heart for him and dredging up her own pain when they buried Carly. It was raining that day in Seattle…

Krell found his wits and started speaking again into the communicator.

Freddie squeezed the trigger, but nothing happened, in fact, the heat dissipated from the weapon. He sucked in a few breaths to calm his breathing from the heat ceasing and his hand stopped shaking.

The Organian elder bowed his head and quietly uttered, "Your weapons are not going to work here. We will not permit violence here."

Feeling a reprieve, Krell began speaking for a third time, but Freddie lowered the weapon then in a flash, raised it and chucked it as hard as he could at Krell. The phaser struck him in the face hard enough to make his nose to start bleeding purplish-pink blood.

Krell cried out in shock, dropping his communicator and grabbing his face.

Freddie leaned down and charged at Krell, driving his right shoulder into his stomach to knock the wind out of him. He lifted the Klingon off of his feet as he continued with his forward momentum until he reached the conference table and slammed him down on it.

"ARRGGHH!" Krell as the back of his head and spine hit the unyielding table.

Freddie climbed on top of the table and him and started pounding away at the trapped Klingon's face, sending more blood flying from the damaged nose with the intent of breaking the man's jaw and knocking his teeth out.

One of the Klingons guarding Tori pulled a knife out from his belt, preparing to defend his captain, but Tori grabbed the soldier's right shoulder to pull him down then drove her right knee into his solar plexus.

The wind was knocked out of him and he dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.

Tori raised her cuffed hands above her head and slammed them down on the back of his neck as hard as she could manage. The cuffs hit him and dropped him in an instant.

The third Klingon was startled, but moments later attempted to grab Tori.

However, Trina raised her phaser carbine with the butt end outward and charged him, slamming it against his face, sending another shower of pink blood spewing from his broken nose with a number of broken teeth accompanying it. His head snapped back and he collapsed backwards to the ground. She jumped on him and slammed the butt of the weapon down on him again to make sure he didn't get back up.

Over at the table, Krell's head snapped back with each punch, reeling from the impact of the fist that had already broken his nose, knocked a few of his front teeth out and cracked his left cheek bone. A part of his mind thought the Star Fleet captain's hand must have been broken already since Klingon bones were a little denser than human ones, but Freddie just kept wailing on him.

He was fighting to remain conscious, something he wouldn't have been able to do without Klingon training even with his sturdier build. He was able to get his right hand to his dagger strapped to his outer right thigh. He slipped it from its sheath and attempted to slash upwards into Freddie.

The former science officer saw it and shifted to his right, allowing the blade to slice up across the padded shoulder of the jacket thought the first layer. The action caused Freddie to throw his body to his right and roll away and back onto his feet with the table now on his right.

Krell got onto his feet, wiping away the blood from under his nose and spitting out the blood in his mouth along with a few broken piece of teeth. He growled in frustration and pressed a stud on the handle and two short curved blade's popped open away from the blade to form a cross guard.

Freddie reached just behind his right hip, popped a clasp then pulled with the hand his KA-BAR from its sheath. He held it up in an inverted grip with the blade pointed at an angle to the floor and his other hand out ready for the knife fight.

The Klingon appreciatively smiled to the Star Fleet captain just before he lunged at Freddie's gut, but he reached out with this left palm to grab the wrist and slashed down with his other hand at the blade. The blades' edges scrapped across one another until Freddie's blade locked with the hilt of the Klingon blade and trapping his knife hand.

The Klingon growled in frustration and may have had his other hand still free, but Freddie didn't give him the chance to use it with a quick head-butt to the nose.

Krell's head snapped back and more blood went flying, but before he could stumble too far, Freddie yanked Krell's arm forward and stepped back with his right foot, swinging Krell along with him to rotate him two hundred seventy degrees towards the table. He let go and let the Klingon commander hit the edge of the table, nearly sending him doubling over it.

Krell grunted out from the hard impact to his gut, but quickly attempted to recover by bringing his hand up palm over the table's surface and push himself up.

However, Freddie was quicker and lashed out with his right foot into the back of Krell's right knee, immediately bending the leg to drop to that knee then a quick strike to the other one to bring him completely to his knees with his chest against the edge of the table.

Freddie palmed over Krell's forehead and yanked his head back while bringing the edge of his combat knife to Krell's neck. He growled out for everyone in the room to hear, "If you move I won't stop until I hit bone and even then, I might not stop."

Krell glanced up to meet his gaze and saw the killer instinct in his eyes in knowing he would end his life if pushed. "Okay, okay…" He let go of the tedious hold he had on his dagger and slid it across the table.

Freddie didn't take his eyes off of Krell for a moment as he called out, "Sound off!"

Trina answered as she finished undoing Tori's cuffs, "We're fine Captain."

"Get back to the ship now."

Jade asked with clear concern, "What about you?"

"I'll be up in a few minutes and if I'm not… Commander Shapiro has his orders," he answered in a clipped tone.

Jade looked horrified, but knew well enough not to argue with him.

Trina understood it was time to get going and pulled out her communicator and called out, "Tori, this is Vega. Three to beam up."

"Say again. Three?"

"The captain will be up shortly. Just beam us up."

Jade called out, "Just two Robbie. I'm staying."

The Vega sisters turned surprised gazes onto the doctor and Freddie slightly looked over his shoulder to give her a questioning look.

The doctor coolly added, "Robbie, if you have me beamed up… do you want me to finish that sentence?"

A few moments later, Trina and Tori were swept up in the gold shimmering beam of the transporter and disappeared from sight.

Freddie refrained from commenting on Jade disobeying his order and focused back on his Klingon prisoner. He pulled Krell's head back a little further and dug the edge of the blade against his neck. "Now that I got what I want, we're going to clear up the other matter while I'm here."

"What?!"

"This is what is going to happen: you're going give up this claim to Commander Vega and not try some clandestine scheme to get her back, you're going to come back with me to Neural and help me get all those weapons back… if we have to go from house to house to house to do it and you're going to make sure they return everything they've stolen from the Hill People—especially the women they've kidnapped and raped then you're going to every single person that was touched by the violence you set in motion and beg forgiveness."

Krell initially snorted out defiantly, thinking the starship captain had gone mad. "You truly are mad! I'll do no such thing."

"Fine…" Freddie hissed out in disgust. "Then I'll take you back there anyway and give you to Tyree where you can face justice to the people you've helped to murder and pillaged… you shouldn't underestimate what a grieving husband would do to the person responsible for his wife's death."

The commander's eyes went wide as any number of circumstances they could unleash upon him flashed through his mind.

Ayelborne raised his hands and shouted, "Captain, I demand that you release him at once. This violence is intolerable."

Freddie glanced up to look at the gathered non-corporal beings and defiantly answered, "No."

The simply answer through them off for a moment.

"If you're truly gods and you want to stop me then you strike me down right now because that's the only way you're going to stop me…" He snorted out a harp breath from his nose, "If you do… it'll just be another way for you to prove to the galaxy what you are: the champion of conquerors… gods that need to be overthrown for us to be free."

The pair stared off at one another, one confident in his convictions and the other one that could barely able to still fathom such passion and had the ability to perhaps sweep him from existence with a snap of his fingers. Ayelborne raised a hand, perhaps willing to go through with such a suggestion, but Freddie looked back without any fear.

"Robbie, lock everything you have on our position to fire!"

The Organian looked up to Jade holding her communicator near her mouth.

The former terror of her high school gave the god a cold stare and whispered, "If you try it, I swear you'll be dead right after him."

Ayelborne looked to Jade's eyes, seeing the anger and unwavering loyalty she had towards her captain. He felt something odd, something he hadn't felt in tens of thousands of years: fear.

He sighed and relented with a nod of his head, "Very well Captain…" He looked to the Klingon and suggested, "Commander Krell, for your own safety and the peace between your two governments, I suggest you go with the captain and do as he's asked. The Captain will follow his own laws to make sure you're returned to your government."

Krell gritted his teeth and spat out, "I'd rather die."

Freddie dug the blade a little deeper into the Klingon's neck and whispered, "You don't get the easy way out for your crimes."

A figure on each side of the room slowly started forming. One was a muscular dark skinned older man with wisps of graying hair in a Klingon military uniform with a long jacket draped over his shoulders that had a number of medals running down the lapel. The other figure was a lovely dark haired woman with darkly tanned skin in her mid-to-late forties dressed in a colorful sari.

Krell's eyes widened as he recognized the man as the Emperor of the Klingon Empire. He spat out, "What kind of trick is this?"

Ayelborne answered with a fretful expression, "It's no trick commander. As soon as you beamed down, we appeared in the government bodies of your respective peoples and allowed them to see what was going to transpire, what we had hoped would be a peaceful negotiation."

Freddie dryly pointed out, "We don't negotiate with hostage takers." He glanced over to the image of who he recognized as President Qnorna Kannal and asked nearly rhetorically, "So they've been watching this entire time?"

"Yes we have Captain," Kannal answered with a faint smile.

The Emperor ordered in a firm voice, "Commander Krell, you are to carry out Captain Benson's conditions immediately."

Krell, Freddie and who appeared to be the President of the Federation looked mildly stunned at the Emperor's order to his subornment.

The Klingon commander licked his blood covered lips and asked, "What?"

"You heard my order Commander. You thought you could be cleaver and steal a planet out from under the Federation, but clearly you overestimated your cunning to succeed and prowess to defeat Captain Benson when you were caught. Even if the Organians wouldn't interfere, we wouldn't go to war to cover for your lack of both. You will clean up your failure then we will deal with you."

The Klingon commander stuttered for a moment and replied, "There is no way of knowing that you're really the Emperor. This could be a trick by them."

Freddie added with a flick of his eyebrow, "He's right on that point." He looked to the attractive Indian woman and commented, "With all due respect Madam President, there is no way to confirm you are you."

The battle hardened Klingon warrior spat, "For what purpose? Merely to save your life? Your duty is to the Empire and for that your life and your ship has always been forfeit. You know I don't need to tell you this. If you resist and are determined to continue to fight Captain Benson, you and your crew will have a good death, but your family… they'll live with your shame and dishonor and we will not pursue the matter with the Federation. You can stay in the Organian's custody if Captain Benson will allow it until my orders reach your ship, but if you still don't wish to carry out my order then I will simply have your first officer carry out my orders and have you executed."

Krell thought on it for several moments then patted a hand on the table, signal that he was conceding. "I'll stay with the Organians until I get confirmation."

Freddie pulled the blade away from Krell's neck and took a step back.

Krell pulled himself to his feet and turned to face Captain Benson. He braced his hands back against the table as he rested against the edge, giving a weary expression to the captain as blood continued to flow down onto his shirt.

The Emperor turned his attention to the other projected image, assuming he was speaking with the President, "Madam President, I hope that with Krell's cooperation in handling the situation on Neural that this matter will be settled and that there won't be any further political ramifications? This won't be a point of contention over the parceling out of planets for development within the Neutral Zone?" He passed an added glance towards the Organians as they would be the impartial final arbiters of awarding such planets, but ones now that could be bullied by a single starship captain.

The Indian native diplomatically smiled and answered with a pleasant voice, "Certainly Emperor. What's important is to maintain the peace and find a way to peacefully resolve our differences and not let one… isolated incident blow up into something more and disrupt settlement allocations in the Zone."

He would have laughed at her naïveté, but he saw a look in her eyes that said she was playing the same political game: she may not want war, but she wasn't timid in waging it; after all when the last one started, the Federation didn't back down.

Captain Benson spoke up while having the chance to face the Emperor, "What about Commander Vega? Are you going to pursue her?"

The Emperor gave a thoughtful expression, spearing a glance to Tori then back to Freddie. "I don't understand why or how a Klingon would join Star Fleet, but… She may have been wearing one of our uniforms, but she did not commit any form of espionage within our boarders, so she is not the Empire's concern."

Tori and Trina visibly looked relief, assuming the Emperor was telling the truth.

The Federation president spoke up, "Then we'll speak again once things have been resolved on Neural to make sure there are no other problems."

The Emperor slightly bowed his head in acknowledgement then President Kannal looked to Captain Benson and pleasantly remarked, "I wish you the best Captain Benson in repairing the damage on Neural and look forward to personally reading your report."

"Thank you Madam President."

The Klingon Emperor spoke up one last time, "Captain Benson?"

"Yes?"

He closed his fist and brought it over his heart. "I honor your courage and your convictions. What the Empire could do with a commander like you…"

Freddie paused, momentarily stunned by the praise, but quickly recovered and answered, "Thank you Emperor."

The figures faded then Freddie reached for his communicator and spoke, "Tori, this is Benson. Cancel General Order Twenty-Four and prepare to beam us up. We'll be leaving for Neural in about an hour."

He could hear Robbie audibly sigh before answering, "Understood. Whenever you're ready Captain." He looked to Krell as he walked over to pick up his phaser. He hissed towards the Klingon, "I'll see you on Neural Commander Krell."

The commander refrained from growling, knowing he had been beat and his jaw just hurt too badly.

Freddie spoke into his communicator, "Beam us up Robbie."

A moment later, the pair disappeared in a shimmer of gold.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, Freddie faced down the Klingons and gods and apparently won. I wondering if it'll be that easy for them?


	5. Chapter 5

Hello readers. Thank you for your readership and I hope you had a nice week.

Fanfic-Reader-88: There are going to be a number of political ramifications from this incident that is already going to start causing it to diverge from the 'Prime' timeline. Freddie made the gods blink. It may cause more trouble between the two great powers of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants or it might actually reduced tensions, who knows.

Invader Johnny: He certainly surprised many, but it wasn't luck. This is TOS Starfleet where they remember they are actually the Federation's military and prepare for such between deep space exploration and scientific research.

* * *

Chapter 5

Sickbay  
USS Tori (NCC-1725)  
In route to Neural

Freddie sat sideways on an examination table while Jade sat in a seat in front of him and held his hand in her palm and doctored his right hand with the other from the nicks and scraps from pounding on the Klingon's face and broken teeth. She had ran several scans over his hand to make sure he hadn't broken any bones or damage any of the few artificial/cybernetic parts of his hand that had replaced some bone after an accident he had when he was a teenager. She squirted a spray onto his hand to prevent infection and accelerate healing of the skin.

There was an awkward silence between them as she attended his hand and the rest of the medical staff was aware enough to find something to occupy their time and steer away from their presence.

The captain was the first to break it by commenting, "You shouldn't have disobeyed my order to go back to the ship."

Jade glanced up from his knuckles and replied, "I wasn't going to leave you there by yourself to face… gods."

"What? So you were going to get smited—smote too?"

She sat up straight in her seat and gave him a penetrating gaze. "You weren't going to leave me to die on that station alone; did you think I would leave you there to die alone?"

Freddie took a deep breath, not appreciating his actions being thrown back. He slumped his shoulders then softly muttered, "I didn't want you to die."

"I didn't want you to die either," the dark brunette doctor answered with a gently smile, their eyes remaining locked with one another trying to convey things they simply couldn't put into words.

The captain finally uttered in a defeated tone, "We can't martyr ourselves for each other."

"Who's being a martyr? I was just making sure you got back," Jade retorted with a smart grin that showed she'd get the last word.

He snorted out, not knowing how to push the conversation forward. He had already buried his wife and didn't want to bury his former sister-in-law. He could have gone the more extreme route as regulations demanded he put her at least on report, maybe open a board of inquiry at her disobeying a direct order. However, he simply didn't have the heart to do any such thing even if it showed his bias in discipline. He was momentarily saved from the decision with a whistle came from one of the speaker panels on a wall followed by Cat's voice on the other end, _"Captain Benson?"_

Freddie got up from his seat and walked to the panel. He tapped the white stud and answered, "Yes Lieutenant?"

" _Message from Third Fleet Headquarters. It's Rear Admiral Shay."_

He slightly grinned, but it wasn't a happy one and glanced over to Jade. "I'll take it in my quarters."

"'kay, 'kay."

He looked to Jade and bashfully explained, "Duty calls…"

Jade smirked and instructed him, "Rest the hand."

"Yes ma'am. I'll see you for dinner."

"Later."

He walked back to the bed and leaned past her, sharing another look with her and picked up his field jacket off the bed and headed out of sickbay.

Captain's Quarters  
USS Tori  
In Route to Neural

Freddie took a seat behind his desk and threw his jacket over on end of the table. He pressed a button below the monitor and Admiral Shay's face appeared on the screen. He politely smiled while answering, "Admiral Shay."

"Captain Benson… are you okay? Your crew?"

"We're okay. Ship and crew one hundred percent operational."

The veteran Star Fleet officer cracked a smile as he replied, "I'm glad to hear… you made quite the impression Freddie."

"I did? The Federation Council just watched me threaten to incinerate the Organians, potentially start the war up with the Klingons and beat the chizz out of one of their officers for all to see. I don't think that many people would be happy to see that. I mean… is my career over?"

Shay fought a grin then answered, "It's spreading like wildfire across the Federation of what you did. The Organians were foolish enough to project the meeting inside the Federation Council Chambers and apparently Klingon High Command, which of course for us is a live feed to the Federation. You stood up to the Klingons and the Organians and avoided going to war with them. Whatever peace fractions there are that may be calling for your head for being so… 'aggressive' with the Klingons, they're being drowned out by the Federalists, Conservatives and whatever Unionists are backing Kannal—which the scuttlebutt I've heard is that she's happy that you checked the Klingons without it escalating. It reminded them and our allies that we're not just going to roll over… and I don't think it goes over too well if we're letting the Klingons help people in our own territory literally kidnapping and raping women. You've gotten the attention of a lot of people… for good and bad."

Freddie let out a deep sighed, not sure if he was happy with the new attention. It would probably complicate his life just as much as potentially help him in the future. "Well… I'll deal with it when the time comes."

"Do you think it was worth it over her?"

The starship captain straightened up in his seat, understanding exactly what the Admiral meant by the comment and answered, "She's a member of Star Fleet and my crew, so yes."

"Because of your loyalty to a fellow member of the service… or you didn't want them to have one of their agents back?"

The starship captain squared his jaw and replied, "Commander Shapiro has no evidence to show that Commander Vega had any duplicity in activating the system. I've seen nothing to suggest that she's a spy… well, at least for the Klingons."

Shay snorted a breath from his nose, smirking a bit to the allusion that she might actually work for Star Fleet Intelligence then asked, "So are you going to go to bat for her? Because it being revealed to the public at large that we have a Klingon in Star Fleet has caused a stir in of itself. People are starting to ask questions."

"Then I guess our high ideals are going to have to be put to the test that we accept everybody that wants to be a member of our community regardless of their species?"

"I guess we are…" he trailed off for a few moments that just leaves one other thing, the most important question: "How you prevented the Organians from disabling your ship?"

The starship captain smiled, but coyly answered, "This channel may be encrypted, but I'm not willing to give that information over subspace. If the Klingons found out… we just might have that war on our hands."

"Understandable… I'll meet up with you at K-Seven after you finish repairing the damage on Neural. Command is going to want to know how you did it."

"Understood. I'll have my report as soon as we're done on Neural."

"I look forward to reading it. Shay out."

The Admiral's image was replaced with the seal of the Federation.

Freddie flicked the monitor off just as the chime to his door went off. He sighed then looked to the door and called out, "Enter."

The doors parted and Tori stepped inside, wearing her blue mini-dress uniform and a bashful smile.

Freddie got up from his seat, brushing his hands down his thighs to brush out any wrinkles in his uniform pants then politely greeted, "Hello Commander."

"Captain… I hope I'm not disturbing you sir?"

He shook his head and answered, "No, I just finished up." He motioned to the seat on the other side of his desk and offered, "Please, have a seat."

"Thank you sir," she answered with a nod of her head and took the seat.

The Captain retook his seat and asked, "What brings you by Commander?"

She turned a sweet smile towards him, one that could easily captivate him if he had allowed it. "I just wanted to say thank you for what you did. I know… you and the crew risked everything for me after I screwed up and… I don't think I can ever really thank you for it."

"I don't know how you 'screwed up'. I have to read your report to determine that," he answered with a laugh. "You don't have to thank me. You're a member of my crew and you're my responsibility…" His smile grew and his voice dropped to reply, "And I think Trina would have killed me if anything happened to you."

Tori shared a soft laugh with him then her smile faded to speak on a more serious note. "But you were going to fire the first shot on a Klingons ship and going against the Organians… I don't think anyone would have expected that you would have done that for me… just one crewmember."

"They would if they think you're a spy for the Klingons and I was just preventing them from getting you back."

Tori knotted her brow then asked, "Excuse?"

Freddie followed up without missing a beat, "Are you a spy?"

She forgot about proper respect and stood up, shouting down at him, "How could you ask me such a thing? After everything we just went through?"

Freddie calmly answered, "Because of your unique life circumstances, I would assume that Star Fleet Intelligence would have recruited you very early on in your career, maybe even during your college years."

Tori opened her mouth then quickly closed it. She took a seat and looked at the desk, clearly trying to gather her thoughts.

"You thought I was asking you if you were a spy for the Klingons?"

"It's a reasonable assumption to think you were after telling me another reason for going that far."

"Yes it is."

Tori snapped her head up, meeting his sympathetic eyes.

He continued in a solemn tone, "I don't have to explain to you why. You're the one that kept quiet all your life about your species because of the Federation's history with the Klingons… you made the assumption people would treat you differently… even to your friends in high school… even me, though we really didn't know each other then… maybe the Federation doesn't live up to her ideals as much as we'd like to tell ourselves, but hiding it makes one suspicious…"

He let his words hang for a few minutes to understand his reference to Jade and the look in her eyes back at him showed she got the message.

"…it's the same reasons we had to double check what happened on the station was really inadvertent or that you did it on purpose to get rid of them and let the Klingons have it."

She took a deep breath then curtly asked, "You thought I murdered them?"

"It was a possibility that couldn't be ignored. Star Fleet Command was going to need an explanation, especially since the only survivor was a Klingon."

Tori's stomach sank and she felt the sensation of being isolated. She licked her lips and reluctantly asked, "So Star Fleet… thought I could have been responsible for my team's death? That I murdered my friends… I was just a spy for the Klingons?"

Freddie slightly relaxed in his seat, giving her a sympathetic smile and asked, "You don't take a second look at every Vulcan now that it's been revealed that the Romulans are a subspecies of them and they may have infiltrated us for the last century?"

"Of course I…" She trailed off and closed her mouth, feeling a bit embarrassed as she realized she was doing the same thing she was getting upset about them doing towards her. She glanced down at the desk and asked, "Am I going to have to constantly prove my loyalty?"

"In your future assignments, I don't know… but here you won't."

Tori was about to reply with righteous indignation that she wouldn't have to prove anything, but caught herself when she processed what he had actually spoke, "Wait, here?"

"Commander Shapiro is willing to work you into his department and with your unique skill set, you could float back and forth from science and operations departments… I don't know if you'd want Commander Van Cleef as your department head and I'm not sure the ship could handle two Vegas in red…"

Tori cracked a smile feeling a sense of levity, but asked to make sure she had heard him right, "I can stay here?"

"If you want it. If not, I'll try my best to get you a good shore assignment… you know Jade's stepfather is an Admiral… with a lot of other admirals as friends."

"I met him once or twice when we were in high school…" She bit her tongue at remembering seeing him at Carly's funeral. "…he seems like a really kind man, but I'm not sure what favors he'd want to do because of Jade… we're not exactly on the friendliest terms right now… haven't been this bad since we first met in high school."

"It's not my business until it affects the performance of carrying out the ship's duty… but as Jade's friend, I would say the underlining assumption of _why_ you were never honest with her and the rest of your friends in high school has deeply offended her. You were afraid of how people would see you, treat you… based on your species… you assumed since meeting Jade in tenth-grade up to the point that we stepped foot on the station that she would look at you differently if she ever found out."

Tori slumped her shoulders and slightly glanced to his desk. Her eyes traveled over to some of the pictures on his desk, seeing a picture of Jade and Carly posing for a picture as teenagers, drawing several different emotions from the well of her soul: regret, sadness, compassion. She pulled her eyes away from the picture and looked to Freddie's sympathetic gaze. "I never really thought about having a deep space assignment, but… I'd like to stay… and I'll talk with Jade."

Freddie smiled in relief and answered, "I know Trina will be happy and things will workout between you and Jade."

"Is that going to be a problem though? Having sisters on the same post?"

"Maybe, but… Jade is my…" His expression faded as he trailed off, but rallied his confidence to finish, "…was my sister-in-law… and that just caused a problem down there didn't it?"

Tori thought it best not to comment. Jade had directly disobeyed the captain's order to return to the ship with them. She didn't know how that was going to play out.

Captain Benson saved her from having to say anything else, "Well, if you're going to stay officially, we're work out a duty roster for you, but in the meantime, you should rest up and eat. We should reach Neural in about a day and we still have a lot of clean-up to do when we get there."

"I'm not sure what use I'm going to be with knowing I'm not from the Klingon Empire."

"One side knows you and you can keep an eye on Krell. We can't put the genie back in the bottle with them knowing how to make flintlocks, but we can certainly try to minimize the damage and try to get something like the status quo so they can progress back on their pace, not us artificially accelerating it."

Tori nodded her head then stand up, smiling at her official captain. "Thank you for the chance Captain… Freddie."

"You're welcome Tori… and welcome aboard the Tori," he added with a smirk.

She snorted out a laugh then headed out of his quarters, pausing only long enough to look over her left shoulder to look at him again with a grateful smile then exited the quarters.

Freddie let out a sigh then relaxed in his seat, passing a glance over to the picture of his late-wife and former sister-in-law. He suddenly felt very tired and wanting a nap. He wondered if he'd dream about her…

Council of Elders  
Organia

Ayelborne relaxed back in his seat, but his outward expression showed that he was quite distraught over the events that had transpired between Captain Benson and Commander Krell. He muttered to the others, "This is bad, very bad."

A white haired man that was balding at the top, Claymare, muttered, "Despite what the leaders of the Federation and Klingon Empire said, they could try to use this as an excuse to start the war again. The Klingons did interfere with one of the planets in their territory."

"Yes and there would be nothing we could do to stop the Federation. I don't understand how it was possible not to disable their ship."

Another one of the elders, Trefayne commented with a hopeful voice to remind his compatriots, "But it seemed that the Klingons were willing to drop it. The Emperor seemed quite embarrassed over the matter."

"That is a light of hope I supposed, but…"

" _But it must be quite annoying with the humans won't do as they are told?"_ a mocking voice called out throughout the room.

The simple torches that lined around the room to give it light started to fade then flare up into roaring fires then fade again before the double doors opened wide and the gathering of non-corporal lifeforms looked to their uninvited guest. Dustin, the gunnery sergeant that was stationed on the bridge of the Tori, stood just outside the room for a moment then started casually strolling inside the room and towards them. He was wearing a green Henley shirt the same shade as a marine uniform shirt, a pair of blue jeans from centuries past and a pair of sneakers that were just as much a throwback to the same time on Earth, but kept on his marine field jacket with matching green stripes over the shoulders. The only difference in the jacket from the previous wearing it on the Tori was that the gunnery sergeant insignia was replace with silver eagles, indicating the rank of Colonel in the Federation Marine Corps.

The elder Organian called out with a hint of surprise yet a feeling that he shouldn't have been surprised by the apparent young man's appearance, "Dusty."

The apparent marine stopped just in front of the table and snapped his fingers, making a chair appear into existence on his side of the table. He took a seat then leaned back and threw up his feet to rest on the edge of the table. He rested his laced fingers hands on his stomach and gave them all a smart grin and politely greeted the gathered beings, "Hello Ayelborne… how are we doing on this fine afternoon?"

The elder looking man breathed out a sigh and stated rather than questioned, "You're the one that stopped us from disabling Captain Benson's vessel."

Dusty chuckled and rocked a little back in his chair. "Oh no, I just reminded him of what you are and what safeguards there are to protect themselves from beings like you. If you wish to 'blame' someone, blame God…" His voice dropped an octane with a menacing tone that laced his voice, "…and see how far that gets you."

The elders of incorporeal beings exchanged worried to annoyed expressions. Ayelborne turned his frustrated expression to Dusty and asked, "Do you realize what you have done?"

The young man with a slight US Southern accent answered in an innocent tone, "I reminded them of the tools they have to stop you from dictating peace to them and with those tools, he stared the gods' right in the eyes for the galaxy to see… and you _blinked_. You should have never imposed a treaty on them in the first place."

"You know what would have happened if we didn't intervene: millions would have died."

"Probably hundreds of millions, but all you've done is allowed the Klingons to carry on with their schemes and posturing. They're going to continue to keep their people in shackles, conqueror other planets in their territory and harass their neighbors. You don't have the right to tell one side they can't defend themselves from an aggressor. You simply took the murderers' side and put off the inevitable."

"War is never inevitable," Ayelborne replied with a tired voice, looking at Dusty as he would a child.

"With evil, it's always inevitable… unless you surrender to the darkness."

"They're not evil and your insistence on such… simplistic notions that one side is good and one side is 'evil' will just perpetuate the animosity towards each other."

Dusty rolled his eyes and muttered, "There you go again with that moral equivalence nonsense. Freddie had to point that out to you." He took a quick glance over the beings and remarked, "For people so old and apparently wise, you've seemed to forget that good and evil exists in the universe and you just can't wish it away or talk your way out of it. You can't claim ignorance like the Excalbians about good and evil. Sometime you just have to punch it in the face."

Ayelborne frowned to him and replied, "And for someone so young, perhaps you should heed our wisdom?"

"If your wisdom tells you that both sides are equal in this conflict then you can keep it," Dusty spat back in disgust.

"You know they are destined to become fast friends and work together."

Dusty shook his head and pointed out, "The future isn't written and even in that one, the Klingons were never friends with the Federation; they simply couldn't be aggressive to their neighbors because they were trying to survive after their moon blew up. They turned on the Federation once their homeworld was safe and they rebuilt their strength. Peace with the Klingons, the peace you want will cripple the Federation and leave them open to the Cardassians, the Borg and the Dominion a century from now. I won't let you leave them toothless and defenseless."

Ayelborne asked in a worried tone, "What do you plan to do?"

Dusty pulled his feet away from the table then stood up. He directed a smart grin to them and answered, "I plan… to simply live my life and help where I can… and we'll see what the Klingons and the Federation do with this unexpected turn of events, but in the meantime… Captain Benson and his crew are off limits. If you bother them or try to have your surrogates interfere with them… I'll deal with you personally Ayelbrone, because remember…" His expression darkened as he finished, "…even the gods can die."

Ayelborne frowned as he met the younger man's face before Dusty turned away to walk out of the room, but before reaching the doors, he vanished in a blink of an eye with the soft sound of fluttering wings.

Capital District  
Klingon Homeworld

In a fairly modern and highly upscale apartment with various pieces of highly made furniture and decorations imported from numerous worlds, something that only the most well-off Klingon could afford due to the lower standard of living for the ethnic Klingon compared to their interstellar neighbors, an older lady with white hair was comfortably sitting in her leather seat watching the trivideo. She was enjoying her cooking program of her favorite chief preparing a Klingon delicacy and lazily doing her knitting.

The sweet little old lady would be an incomplete appearance as over her shoulder to the wall behind her was various pictures, battle won trophies from defeated enemies and memorabilia clearly belonging to her that spanned at least thirty years of service.

The door to the apartment opened and a figure wearing a hood and robe quickly strolled inside.

The old warrior looked to the figure, not at all concern with the abrupt arrival. If it was family or a friend, she'd need not worry and if it was an enemy, she had long prepared herself to join the Black Fleet. However, she wouldn't go out without a fight as she always had a spare distruptor hidden in her seat.

The figure walked deeper into the living room to the old woman then pulled back her hood, revealing her lovely and identical looking face to Tori Vega. She was nearly overcome with joy as she announced, "Grandmother. She's alive. Victoria is alive."

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this story, despite how long it took me to finish. I actually have two follow-up stories in this universe and hopefully get one of them out in a reasonable amount of time. Thank you for your readership and all those that reviewed. Live long and prosper, OneHorseShay.


End file.
